The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

AFTER her stellar senior year at Auburn University and her second outing at the Olympic Games in London, England, Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace has decided to continue in the sport as a professional swimmer.

Vanderpool-Wallace, who graduated this year from Auburn University as the most decorated woman in the Bulldogs’ history, is now in Miami, Florida, where she is training at the University of Miami.

“I’m just kind of taking a mental break. I just got back in the pool last week to start training again, but I haven’t done anything in great detail yet,” she said in an exclusive interview with The Tribune. “I’m just doing some swim clinics that my manager has set up for me. “I have decided to go pro in swimming, but I haven’t made up my mind on exactly where my career is going to go. I’m just trying to take it day by day right now.”

The 22-year-old wrapped up her historic Olympic appearance with an eighth-place finish in the women’s 50m freestyle final, clocking a 24.69 in the final women’s individual race of the Games. It was .05 shy of her time in the semifinals, but history was made as she was the first-ever Bahamian swimmer to advance to an Olympic final.

She reached the final as she qualified sixth overall in the women’s 50m freestyle semis. Her time of 24.64 set a new personal best and also goes down as a new Bahamian and Auburn record. In the morning preliminary heats, she clocked a 24.85 to tie for seventh overall and earn a spot in the semifinals.

Although many felt that more accolades should have been bestowed upon her when the celebrations were held for the “Golden Knights” for winning the men’s 4 x 400 metre relay over the United States in London, Vanderpool-Wallace said she wasn’t perturbed because “the Bahamas did very well and the ‘Golden Knights’ got what they deserved. I was pleased with what they did for me.”

As she makes her adjustment from life as a collegiate swimmer to the pro ranks, Vanderpool-Wallace said she’s just trying to get over the “mental and physical’ hurdle that she experienced in the lead up to the Olympics.

“It was a great year. There were some things that didn’t go exactly the way I wanted it to and there were some things that went great,” she said. “It was a great learning year and I’ve definitely learned from it. So I hope that if I do continue to swim, I will take what I’ve learned this year into the future.”

The hotel and restaurant management major said unlike track and field, which has a number of meets for the pro athletes to compete in, pro swimmers normally just have a World Cup series in Europe and Asia that allow them to compete to earn money based on their placing.

“Beyond that, there’s nothing much outside of the World Championship meet as well as the Olympics,” she said.

The World Cup series is normally held in October and November with swimmers competing in back-to-back weekend meets in various countries. But like track and field, Vanderpool-Wallace said there’s no qualification per say to be eligible to compete.

“Pretty much anyone can go. You don’t have to be a pro to compete,” she revealed. “But you just don’t get any money if you are not a pro.”

Having taken a break since the Olympics and made a change in training venue, Vanderpool-Wallace said she’s not certain if she will be ready to contest this year’s World Cup series, but it’s definitely something that she intends to pursue in the future, depending on how long she remains in the sport.

“In the past, swimmers didn’t have the longevity because there wasn’t any money or not that much money in the sport,” she said. “So they realised that they had to move on and get a job. But nowadays, there’s a lot more money in the sport, so if I want to continue swimming, I can go for as long as I want to until I get tired of it, or as long as the money is coming in from it.”

In the meantime, Vanderpool-Wallace is trying to settle down in Miami as she basks in the success of her career so far.

In her first appearance in the Olympics in Beijing, China in 2008, Vanderpool-Wallace finished 28th in the 100m free (55.61) and 24th in the 50m free (25.40). She was the second female swimmer from the Bahamas to qualify for the four-yearly international event.

Vanderpool-Wallace, an 18-time All-American at Auburn, won 10 Southeastern Conference (SEC) titles and double NCAA titles in th 50 and 100 free in 2011 while being named the SEC Women’s Swimmer of the Year and SEC Commissioner’s Cup Winner, both in the same year.

On the national scene, Vanderpool-Wallace represented the Bahamas at the 2010 Central American and Caribbean Games, winning two gold and two silver medals. She also competed at her second FINA World Championships in Shanghai, China in 2011, advancing to the finals in the 50 freestyle, where she finished seventh in 24.79. Her first appearance at the global championship took place in 2009 in Rome, Italy.