By Will Baxley on SwimSwam
17-year-old competitive swimmer Jeremiah Carnegie grew up attending meets at the London Aquatics Centre, the famed, state-of-the-art facility that housed the 2012 Olympics.
In his time spent at the pool, located in the Newham borough, the teenager noticed that there weren’t many people from the surrounding community taking advantage of the facility.
“It was blatantly obvious that quite a lot of the venue wasn’t being used to its full capacity by the local community,” Carnegie told local news outlet MyLondon “There were a lot of clubs training at the pool from all over London, but I felt like a lot of the local community wasn’t able to access it.”
Believing that financial accessibility played a role in this, Carnegie got to work on an idea to provide free swim lessons for the community’s children. He partnered with his own swim club, Newham and UEL, as well as London Aquatic Centre operator Everyone Active, to launch a program.
The organizations contacted every primary school in the Newham Council about the program. The outreach brought a total of 780 children through the Centre’s doors this summer, 320 of whom had never swum before. Families who couldn’t afford equipment such as suits and goggles were provided them free of charge. Students received 30 minutes of instruction each across five days.
Families who participated in the program say it made a difference. Students who had never touched a pool were able to float on their back confidently by the end of the program.
“I spoke to multiple parents who said they wanted their children to learn to swim but it would be unaffordable for multiple children,” Carnegie said. “By giving this opportunity, I think it also promotes the pool’s legacy.”
“I’ve won multiple medals myself at the Aquatic Centre and had a lot of firsts at that pool, so to be able to give back to the community and an area that has given so much to me, I’m grateful,” the teenager added.
The program is expected to continue next summer with thousands of more families expressing interest.
Carnegie, who lives in Croydon, was the 100 breaststroke silver medalist at Aquatics GB Next Gen Championships, clocking a PB of 1:04.17 in the long course race.
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