Freya Anderson On Sticking Out Like A Sore Thumb, Self-Doubt And Heemskerk Inspiration
All Freya Anderson wanted when she was growing up was to fit in.
She was already pushing six feet tall by the time she entered her early teens and with red hair, the young girl from Birkenhead, in northwest England, stood out.
Add an acute lack of self-confidence into the mix and they were difficult times for Anderson, who now stands on the brink of her first Olympics with world and European medals in her armoury.
Rewind a few years though and things were very different as the 20-year-old told Swimming World:
“I had no self-confidence at that time because I stuck out like a sore thumb.
“All my friends were short, had brown hair and nice tanned skin and I was just completely different to that. I never got teased for it or anything.
“I wanted to fit in was the main thing.”
Photo Courtesy: Speedo
Nerves, shyness, little confidence and a heightened sense of self-consciousness is a potent mix for a youngster but she found a sense of belonging in the water.
“Swimming has taught me that no-one cares what you look like when you’re swimming, it’s all about how fast you can go and that has been a real help for me.
“You’re not going to a fashion show, you’re going to a swimming competition so it doesn’t really matter how you look.
“There you’re surrounded by all sorts of tall girls as well so it makes you feel a bit more home.”
Society often attaches labels to people, be they character traits, perception or physical characteristics.
Height is no exception with tall people sometimes described as “giants” and smaller individuals as “pocket rockets”.
Anderson insists the use of such language doesn’t offend her although she understands how some people may find such terms distressing, saying:
“I think there’s a good example with me and Anna Hopkin (British teammate). We are a foot apart in height and we go the same time in the 100 free.
“I think that just shows there is no ideal height for racing in swimming.
“If I saw things like that written it wouldn’t really affect me that much because at the time I was my own biggest critic.
“Things that people would say wouldn’t be half as bad as I was telling myself even though it didn’t apply to me.
“I can see how it could be quite damaging to people if you are insecure about being tall growing up and these tall women are getting called giants and all that – that can be a bit disheartening.
“But I think when they’re racing fast and swimming fast and they’re tall it’s a bit of a bonus – it shows that you can be successful.
“Once you get older you realise in yourself there’s more to the life than all this. I think that just comes with experiences that you go through in life.
“Not fitting in and things doesn’t really matter.”
From Tears On Poolside And iPad Woe To The International Podium
Freya Anderson: Photo Courtesy: Speedo
Anderson was a nervous 10-year-old who hid behind her mother on poolside, crying and screaming, ahead of a trial for Hoylake Swimming Club.
The Speedo athlete started out as a breaststroker before transforming herself into a freestyler and at 14, while under the keen eye of Paul Remmonds at Wirral Metro, she won the 100/200 free double at the national age group finals.
That had followed a stagnant year after which Remmonds challenged her to either give up or “get your head down and keep going.”
With her GCSEs coming up, Anderson’s parents thought it would be good to merge schooling and swimming.
And so she moved to board at Ellesmere College where the school team – the Titans – are coached by Alan Bircher, an open water and distance freestyler for Britain in his own racing days.
She still had a chronic lack of confidence and on one occasion Bircher had to fish the teenager out of the water only for her to be so upset she couldn’t speak, instead writing down the cause of the upset.
Which was?
“It sounds stupid. I was in year nine and you used to have to get your phones taken off you at night.
“I kept my iPad which wasn’t allowed and the prefects – the girls that were in year 11 or 10 – saw that I liked someone’s photo on Instagram.
“It all kicked off and was like ‘give me your iPad now’ and I got really upset about it.
“Thinking back on it now it’s hilarious but I was so upset about it I was literally ready to pack my bags and leave.
“Now I can laugh at it and I’m friends with the girls so it just shows how much I’ve developed.”
Photo Courtesy: MIKE LEWIS / ISL
Her development in the pool continued apace and in 2016 she was crowned European junior champion over 100 free and paid three further visits to the podium with silver in the 4×200 free relay and bronze medals in the 4×100 free and 4x100m medley.
In 2017 she made her senior international debut at the World Championships in Budapest, Hungary, before a stunning 2018 season.
Two relay bronzes with Team England at the Commonwealth Games were followed by 50 and 100 free titles at the European Junior Championships and a month later she won two golds and two bronze medals in the relays at the European Championships in Glasgow.
Anderson then visited the global senior podium at the 2019 worlds in Gwangju where she came away with bronze after anchoring the mixed 4×100 medley relay.
Come 2020 and the Flanders Cup where she elevated herself to third all-time among British women over 200 free in 1:56.06, leaving the competition with three golds.
It all hinted at exciting things to come in Tokyo but that came to a juddering halt with the postponement because of the havoc wreaked across the world by Covid-19.
It meant she brought forward her move to Bath National Training Centre to be coached by Dave McNulty which was scheduled to take place after the Olympics.
Anderson has flourished in an environment she describes as “professional,” adding:
“It’s always about bettering yourself and in return helping your own team-mates out.
“I remember after trials there were five of us going to Europans and two girls that weren’t and Dave just said to them ‘we’re all in this together, I need you girls to help lift this group up, keep everyone on the straight ready to go to Europeans’.
“So it’s all about not being selfish in that group.”
Budapest Success And Heemskerk Inspiration
Come Budapest and Anderson was a regular visitor to the podium, winning five relay golds and claiming her first individual senior long-course medal with bronze in the 200 free behind Barbora Seemanova and Federica Pellegrini.
It has some talking up her medal chances in Tokyo although she knows only too well the quality and depth she faces over 100 and 200 where her PBs are 53.31 and 1:56.06 respectively.
Emma McKeon on 52.19 leads seven women to go sub-53 over 100 this season while her Australian teammate Ariarne Titmus produced a shuddering 1:53.09 at the trials for the second-fastest 200 in history behind only Pellegrini’s world record.
4×200 relay, 2021 European Championships: Photo Courtesy: Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto
Anderson describes herself as “an over-thinker in general – I over-think every aspect of my life” and a lingering self-doubt isn’t far from the surface as she says:
“I guess in a way it’s nice people have that confidence in me even though I don’t have it in myself. I try not to listen to it.
“I guess I put a bit of a cap on myself sometimes: a cap on my expectations of myself which is bad obviously, you shouldn’t be putting a limit on what you can try and achieve.
“Sometimes you go through a period of self-doubt: it’s all about trying to get that balance in your head I think of not being too complacent but still having that strive to get to be the best.”
Budapest though was invaluable in terms of competing once more in an extended meet and also provided confidence in terms of recovery.
There was also inspiration in the form of Femke Heemskerk with the Netherlands swimmer claiming her first individual international long-course title at the age of 33 in the 100 free.
Heemskerk’s success was an affirmation of sorts for Anderson and proof of longevity, that success may not come tomorrow but at a point some way down the line.
“Definitely. To see Femke winning her first individual gold at 33 sort of takes the pressure off you I guess. You don’t have to be good at this age.
“It’s like when Adam Peaty says he wasn’t a breakout until he was 20 or something.
“Because I’ve been junior swimming and even at the worlds when I was 16 I’ve always had that pressure on me – oh you have to be good now.
“Seeing Ranomi (Kromowdijojo, 30) still going, seeing Federica (Pellegrini, 32) still going and being successful sort of makes you relax a bit and think maybe your time will be a bit later on.”
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