DUBBO'S Olivia Watmore recorded some richly deserved success recently when she won gold in both the 50m and 100m breaststroke at the NSW All-Schools swimming finals.
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Making the victories even more special is the fact the Dubbo College student swam personal best times in both events.
The Year 11 student, who also swam at the Australian age championships and the Olympic try-outs in Adelaide last month, is now working towards the School Sport Australia Swimming Championships in Darwin in September.
"I wasn't expecting to perform as well as I did in the NSW All-Schools because I had previously placed second at the State CHS finals," she said.
"At the All-Schools the competition can be really fierce because it incorporates both public and private school students from throughout the state.
"But I managed to perform personal best times in both the 50m and 100m breaststroke, winning both events against 17 to 19-year- olds.
"I was really excited and I'm now in a training regime for the national schools competition in Darwin."
Watmore has only been swimming competitively for three years, training under the watchful eye of her mother Lisa and more recently coach Anthony Chapman as part of the Orana Aquatic Club.
Her rise in the swimming stakes first came to notice at Dubbo College when she broke a 43-year-old 100m freestyle record in 2014, as a 14-year-old South Campus student.
Since then she has continued her commitment to swimming, spending most summer days training between two and four hours a day in the pool, as well as completing a gym session five-days- a-week.
Outside of school-based competition, during this year's Australian Age Championships Watmore was placed 12th overall in the 100m breaststroke and improved her ranking at the Olympic try-outs from 36th to 21st in the 50-metres breaststroke, taking first place in her age group.
Not one to over-inflate her achievements, Watmore said she was quietly working towards a future outside swimming, with the sport possibly providing a handy ticket.
"My main focus is on obtaining scholarships to help me through university," she said.
"I would like to study speech or occupational therapy and I would really love to go to Bond University on the NSW North Coast.
"I'll continue my training and I will be applying for university scholarships for 2018, the year after I complete Year 12 at Dubbo College.
"It would be great to have the opportunity to continue to compete at an elite level but I'll just wait and see what comes my way."
