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Nic Brown to carry on Olympic tradition

 

Nic Brown to carry on Olympic tradition

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AOC
Nic Brown to carry on Olympic tradition
SWIMMING: After a whirlwind first session in the pool at the Youth Olympic Games, it is a time for many of the athletes to reflect on their swimming journey so far especially quiet achiever Nicholas Brown.

SWIMMING: After a whirlwind first session in the pool at the Youth Olympic Games (YOG), it is a time for many of the athletes to reflect on their swimming journey so far especially quiet achiever Nicholas Brown.

Son to Australian Olympic swimmer Ian Brown, swimming is in the 18-year-old’s blood which showed after his mixed 4x100m freestyle relay heat performance today.

While the teenager says his Dad’s Olympic history played a role in his own swimming career, Brown says he has never felt pressured to pursue the sport he loves.

“He was the reason I got into swimming, when I was little there was a box in the cupboard and I found all these medals and I had no idea what they were and there were also these old tapes and it had his old Commonwealth Games swims on them and that was the main reason I got into swimming at a younger age,” he said.

“He is pretty laid back, he always says to me to do whatever the coach says, he doesn’t really get involved too much in my swimming which I really appreciate, he just lets the coach do his and her job and just takes a back seat.”

Mr Brown, who twice represented Australia at the Summer Olympics in 1988 and 1992, is extremely proud of his son’s achievements and says he tries not interfere with his son’s journey as much as possible.

“I tried not to put too much pressure on him, he is still young and he needs to learn what it is like to be a swimmer and to develop the skills that is required for him to swim well,” he said.

“He has shown great improvement and making the team is a great step forward for him.”

Having two Olympic swimmers in the one family is very rare but this family’s story is much more special.

Australian Youth Olympic Team Chef de Mission Susie O’Neill attended her first ever Olympic Games with Ian in 1992 and now her first ever Games as a Chef she has encountered another Brown in Nic.

“Ian Brown was a really nice guy, he was about eight years older than me so I wasn’t extremely close to him but I remember him being just a really nice you know inverted commas guy,” O’Neill said.

 “Now that I have met his son Nic, he is exactly the same you know he is very, very polite well mannered and probably a real quiet achiever like his Dad was.”

Brown who unlike his father, who swam freestyle, swims butterfly and says having Madame Butterfly as his Chef is really inspiring.

“She is an Australian icon in swimming and most people know who she is and to have her as a Chef is just awesome,” the Western Australian said.

“I normally don’t have anyone to talk butterfly with because it is usually the freestylers that get all the limelight but to have a butterfly expert is pretty cool.”

Nevertheless unlike many other up and coming athletes Brown also has his Dad to look up to for swimming knowledge and advice.

“I had good conversations with him leading up [to the Games] about what I should do especially regarding routine and practice and stuff like that and he is always keen to offer advice to me and help me out any way he can,” he said.

O’Neill says growing up in a house with an Olympian would have normalised the Olympic dream for Brown making the journey much more achievable for the youngster, but Brown says he has never really thought about it.

“He is just my Dad I have never really thought of him as anything more or less, he is just my Dad some people think of him as an Olympian but he is just my Dad,” he said.

“I have never really had anyone different so like I said he is just my Dad that is all there is to it.”

While that may be the case, Brown says he doesn’t mind a bit of healthy competition with his Olympic father, using his Dad’s history for motivation to swim faster.

“I do a bit of freestyle and I let my Dad know every time I beat his times and he used to do butterfly and I only just beat his fastest time for butterfly a few months ago and he was the first person I called and he wasn’t too happy but it always makes me happy when I beat his times,” the Youth Olympian said.

Having never had the opportunity to attend a YOG in his junior years, Mr Brown says he is excited for what the future holds for his athlete son after Nanjing.

“Being able to progress from an age group swimmer to an open swimmer is a big step and many athletes don’t make that progression,” he said.

“The Youth Olympics Games are ideal for recognising their skills but also acting as a great stepping stone for them to learn what it is all about so that they can hopefully progress on and make [a senior] Olympic Games.”

For now Brown is staying true to his inner athlete and maintaining focused on the next week of competition which both his parents will be attending to cheer him on.

“It’s great to have my parents in the crowd and I am definitely looking forward to swimming in front of them,” the butterfly swimmer said.

“I didn’t come here to swim badly of course I came here to swim the best I can and hopefully get on the podium.”

O’Neill who has been to a couple of the swimming training sessions says Brown and the rest of his team stand a good chance for medal contention in the pool.

“They have got a really good attitude, they are feeling a little bit nervous I think leading into it but hopefully when it starts it is six days they will get into the routine of it and they will do really well,” she said.

The second session of the first day of competition starts at 1800 (2000 AEST) where Australia is aiming to make a splash in the semi-finals of the men’s and women’s 100m backstroke, the men’s 100m breaststroke, the women’s 50m breaststroke and the final of the mixed 4x100m freestyle relay.

Laura Judd
Olympics.com.au
@AUSOlympicTeam

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