A teenage swimmer with Torfaen Dolphins is flying to America for three weeks of high-altitude training with the Great Britain squad before heading back to the States to compete in the US Open.
Theodora Taylor, 17, finished last season with a bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, a gold medal with Aquatics GB at the European Championships in Paris, and four medals from the European Aquatics Junior Swimming Championships in Munich.
Her performances caught the eye of the national selectors, who have brought her into the two-year programme that could lead to selection for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
Pontypool Active Living Centre
She trains at Pontypool Active Living Centre. She took a five-minute break from training and got out of the pool to talk to Cwmbran Life.
Theodora said: “I think it’s been quite difficult this year to balance swimming and a heavier workload starting my A-levels. It’s been crazy being able to go to all these places and I’m really lucky to have the opportunity to visit so many places which I wouldn’t be able to go to without my sport.”
The two season highlights were swimming for Wales and not just making her debut for the GB senior team but coming home with a medal.
She said: “Definitely going to the Commonwealth Games was big enough of an achievement in itself but being able to go there and medal was really special and then Paris, I didn’t expect to qualify so being able to go there and integrate myself with the British senior team for the first time was really great.
“I’m in school for the next two weeks. Training is normal and then over to Arizona for three weeks at altitude training with the British team, then back to school. I think I’ve got some mocks and then back over to the States again at the beginning of December for the US Open in Austin.”
Teammates
A special part of her training with the Torfaen Dolphins is having teammates around the same age.
She said: “Having a group of people my age here is really special and being able to all have a similar lifestyle, balancing swimming and training, is really useful and important to have people my own age to train with.”
Tom Croke, head coach at Torfaen Dolphins, has been her coach since she was eight.
Tom said: “We’ve achieved everything that we’ve set out to do, make the Commonwealth Games team, that was target number one. Then it was, ‘Could she make the European senior team for Aquatics GB?’ Yes, she stepped up and did that. What we found is that she’s just kept progressing as the season’s gone on…she’s done a great job this season, and it has been incredible.
“It’s amazing for Torfaen, it’s amazing for her, and it’s amazing for the squad and the club.”
The Dolphins held their end-of-season presentation evening, and Tom said the club’s young swimmers, seven- to nine-year-olds, could see a future “pathway” with Thea showing them her medals from last season.
Tom added: “They’re [the Dolphins squad] training with probably one of the fastest swimmers in the world at the moment.
“They probably know it, but they probably don’t because it’s Thea, and she’s incredibly modest, and she’s their teammate. It’s remarkable, really. What she’s doing in a 25m six-lane pool in a club programme is just brilliant.”