What could be The Bahamas' biggest Olympic swimming contingent ever, is set to benefit from the coaching expertise of Brett Hawke, and for Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace, she couldn't be happier.
Hawke, the head coach of Auburn University's swimming and diving program, has been named by the Bahamas Swimming Federation (BSF) as the head Coach for The Bahamas' swim team at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, England. Bahamian speedster Vanderpool-Wallace, who has been training under Hawke for the past three and a half years, said having her college coach by her side will assist greatly in her push toward a historic performance in London.
Vanderpool-Wallace became the first Bahamian to ever win a medal at a world level swimming meet, when she accomplished the feat at the 10th FINA Short Course World Championships in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, in 2010. The following year, she became the first Bahamian to advance to a final of the long course swimming world championships when she finished seventh in the 50 free in Shanghai, China, and now she has aspirations of gracing the medal podium in London. She is confident that she could achieve that under Hawke's guidance.
"He really has been there for me since the beginning of my collegiate career here at Auburn, and has been instrumental in my progression," said Vanderpool-Wallace. "I'm very excited. It's good to know that someone who knows me as well as he does will be a part of the national team. I have changed a lot in the last four years and I owe a lot of that to coach Hawke. He's been coaching me over the past four years and has been a huge part of my progress. I'm ecstatic that he will be there at the Olympics because he knows exactly what to do when it comes to me."
Vanderpool-Wallace is the only Bahamian to meet the Olympic qualifying time thus far, but her former Auburn team mate Alana Dillette has met the Olympic selection time in the 100 meters (m) Back, and in the event that she doesn't meet the qualifying time, she could still be chosen by FINA to compete in the summer games based on her meeting the selection time. Be that as it may, BSF President Algernon Cargill said that given the potential of Dillette, and the aspirations of others, this could very well be the biggest swimming team that The Bahamas has ever sent to the Olympics.
"Dillette is very close to meeting the qualifying time. She doesn't have a guaranteed spot but there is a chance that she could be invited to participate based on her ranking. She certainly has the potential," said Cargill yesterday.
In addition, national record holder in the men's 50 and 100m free, Vereance Burrows, is close to qualifying, and for the first time in the history of the games, a relay could very well make the cut. Cargill said that there is a strong chance that the women's 4x100m free and medley squads could qualify for this summer's Olympics.
"Well, the qualifying times are much tougher than they were for the Worlds last year, but we remain optimistic that we will be able to get more qualifiers," said Cargill. "We are very excited about this team we are seeking to qualify. We are sending swimmers to the Canadian Olympic Trials so that they can have a realistic shot of qualifying. At the end of the day, the coaches will decide the order of the relay team, but we are sending Arianna, Alana, Ariel (Weech), Alicia (Lightbourne) and McKayla (Lightbourn) on the girls side, and Vereance on the boys side. We believe that these swimmers certainly have the potential to qualify. We are trying to make history. We want to have the biggest swimming team ever assembled by The Bahamas at the Olympic level to make it to the Olympics this year," he added.
As far as Hawke coaching the national team is concerned, Cargill said that they wanted to maximize the chances of Team Bahamas at the Olympics, and with Vanderpool-Wallace and Dillette benefitting from his tutelage at Auburn, they will be able to have a coach who they are most comfortable with, by their side.
"We believe this will work out perfectly for Arianna and our swimmers," said Cargill. "Arianna will now be able to show the world how fast she can really go. The whole world is swimming faster, and by July, we believe that Arianna will be near her peak," he added.
Hawke is a retired sprint swimmer who represented Australia at the 2000 and 2004 Summer Olympics. In 2009 after becoming an American citizen, he was named Head Coach of the Auburn swimming and diving program after former coach Richard Quick passed away from an inoperable brain tumor. Quick and Hawke were named 2009 NCAA Coaches of the Year after the men's swimming and diving program won the national title.

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