How Ikoyi Club’s young swimmers shine in Germany

Win 25 gold, 31 silver, 27 bronze medals

Last year, the Swimming Section of Ikoyi Club 1938 took 23 young swimmers to the annual Swimfest International swimming competition in Germany, where its squad, made up of mainly school children put up a remarkable performance. But this term, 35 young lads went a notch further in the Germany 2016 swimming fiesta, winning 25 gold, 31 silver and 27 bronze medals to finish second overall on the medals table. A total of 37 clubs from different parts of the world took part in the competition in the city of Arnsberg.

In return, the Swimming Section of Ikoyi Club 1938 has set aside November 20 for a ‘welcome back party’ as a way of showing appreciation for the young swimmers.

In a message to The Guardian yesterday, chairman of Swimming Section, Ikoyi Club 1938, Segun Adekoya, said the body was excited by the great performance of the kids, despite the stiff opposition they faced from swimmers of 36 other clubs at the Germany 2016 event.

Apart from claiming the second position in the overall medals table, the young lads returned with seven trophies for outstanding performances in the competition. Also, 11 of the swimmers finished in the sixth position, 10 of them in the seventh position, while eleven others were on eighth position.

The ‘welcome back party on November 20, according to Adekoya, is a way of encouraging the young lads to put in more effort in subsequent competitions.

Shortly after the team returned from the Swimfest in Germany last year, the swimming section of Ikoyi Club 1938 organize an interschool swimming gala for children from different parts of Lagos State.

At that occasion, Adekoya said: “We realized that the swimming sport calendar in the Lagos State is not as robust as it should be. We decided to organise this first interschool swimming gala for school children to enable us catch swimmers at a young age and create a sustainable platform for the development of swimming in Lagos.

“Ikoyi Club has always been in the forefront of these ideals because we have produced swimmers for Lagos State and indeed Nigeria at past sporting events such as the National Sports Festival, African Games and even the Olympic Games.

“The swimming section itself has a standing squad that participates both as a team and individual swimmers in local and international competitions. Our aim is to address the decline in swimming and we call on other stakeholders to partner with Ikoyi Club in this initiative.”