Swimming is all about personal development – former Olympic swimmer

Olympian Monica Dahl Bohm says no event is as special as the Olympics. “It is these 16 days every four years that brings people together – no matter your religion, hair colour, skin colour, or cultural background.”

Bohm represented Namibia at two Olympic Games.

Born and raised in Windhoek, she not only made it to the final of the 100m freestyle event at the Commonwealth Games, but also clinched a bronze medal at the African Games.

Winning the sportswoman of the year award at the National Sports Council awards at the age of 15 set the tone for the former Deutsche Höhere Privatschule schoolgirl, who went on to add two more titles to her glittering swimming career.

“I started swimming at a very young age and I was privileged to represent my country at top events in South Africa before independence, as well as at prestigious events like the All-Africa Games and the Commonwealth Games after independence,” Bohm says.

“But none of these events are as special as the Olympics Games.”

Apart from her dominance on the local scene, Bohm also won a few medals during an event in Germany before the 1992 Olympics, while she is also an African Games bronze medallist.

She says her swimming style was based on both strength and technique.

The former Marlins Swimming Club star says the fact that she always trained with the boys from her club like was beneficial.

She and her teammates did dry-land fitness training while she also did some gymnastics, tennis and horse riding growing up.

Due to the lack of heated swimming pool facilities, they could only swim eight months a year, she says.

The retired champion swimmer says she has received many scholarship offers during her prime, with the most promising being from an American university in Houston.

“I had to look at the university and their study programme. I must say I was impressed beyond my imagination, but unfortunately I had to turn down their offer, because I had to start in 1995, which was just a year before the Atlanta Olympics,” Bohm says.

“I decided against it mainly because I felt I didn’t want to change my coach, Larry Laursen, someone who knew me for 15 years, just a year before the Olympics.

“I don’t have any regrets today, because that was my own decision, and it was the right thing to do at the time.”

The former swimmer speaks fondly of Namibia’s first Africa Games.

“That was the first time Namibia participated internationally after independence in 1991. I think what was so humbling for me was the team spirit. The way that we came out of nowhere and participated as a team,” she says.

“The competition was so tight. It was really a rude awakening. It was like coming from nowhere and just jumping into the deep sea. The people we competed against at the Africa Games we only saw on magazine covers.”

Bohm says she doesn’t have any sporting or life regrets.

“I think sportwise or workwise, when we look back, one never knows where life could have taken you if you had made different decisions. But then again, I think we are who we are for a reason.

“Because it felt right at that moment, it doesn’t mean we don’t make mistakes in life. We all do, and because of this, I never regret any decision I have taken,” she says.

Bohm got married in 2008 and has two children.

“I am working full-time and my husband is also working full-time . . . I have a morning job working for a private equity investment company, and in the afternoon I help my husband with his solar product company.

“All is well apart from economic changes.”

Bohm was co-opted to the Namibian Olympic Committee in 2018 and has served on sub-committees.

She says her former coach, Larry Laursen, had the biggest influence on her swimming career.

She always knew sport would not always be her main source of income, which is why she studied management accounting at the University of Stellenbosch.

Her advice to young swimmers is: “Enjoy what you’re doing, because what you need to take out of it is your personal development and growth. The foundation you build for the hardships that may come your way, look at it from a character perspective also.”