From the classroom to the swimming pool, freshman Ian Maldonado is training hard to one day be a great swimmer for the Olympics.
“When I was little, I remember watching Michael Phelps swim in the 2012 Olympics,” Maldonado said. “I was watching that and I was like, ‘oh, wow, he’s so cool. I want to be a butterfly just like him.”
From there, Maldonado started swimming, trying to be as good as the swimmer he aspired to be like. It was tough, but he pushed through, never forgetting why he was doing it.
“I wasn’t really good,” Maldonado said. “But then, over time, I got better and better. I’m the best in Texas for one of the bends.”
Although he was already amazing and skilled, he knew he could get even better. During school, he exercises his abilities by being in a swimming class.
“Langham doesn’t have a pool,” Maldonado said. “ The pool is at Watkins. We own the Watkins pool, it’s just that we don’t have it over here. We just go over there and swim.”
Outside of school, Maldonado knows he needs to do more in order to be in the Olympics someday.
“I train at a swim team called Fleet, and there we just train really hard,” Maldonado said. “They train us in different groups. They have black, white, and red. In Junior, they have Junior Black and Red. I was in Junior Black before. Then there’s Senior Black and Red. I’m in Senior Black, which is the top group.”
Maldonado has also admired other Olympic swim athletes, such as Caeleb Dressel, Michael Andrew, and Cody Miller. He was also inspired by their swimming ability and wanting to achieve a skill like them.
“I have not met any of them, but I have met this one dude that swims at A&M,” Maldonado said. “He went to the Olympics for one of the events, he didn’t make it to any of the top places, but at least he went to the Olympics. His name is Munzee Cabra and I remember I met him at one of my swim meets where I broke these records and he met me and was like ‘Congrats Ian, nice job.’”
Even though Maldonado is a great swimmer, and even if he succeeds in swimming to great lengths, there are still requirements to be able to make it to the Olympics.
“You have to make the trial cut,” Maldonado said. “Which is like, you have to get a certain time or under to make it, but then you have to swim the Olympic trials where you swim against other fast people to see if you can qualify to make it for the United States team or not.”
Maldonado knows the training in order to be able to compete in the Olympics is really hard. But, he thinks all this hard work will pay-off in the end and might get him somewhere in his swimming goals someday.
“I’d be happy if I get qualified,” Maldonado said. “My mom, she’d be crying out of joy.”
Currently, Maldonado is still training. He still has a long way to go, but each time he practices, he is closer to his goal than before.
