Kaylene Corbett

"I am very dedicated and motivated to the things that I love, when I put my mind to something I would do anything in my power to achieve it"

"I can’t believe what I had achieved. I had a difficult two years in which I did not once get close to swimming a personal best time. So, I had been quite discouraged ever so often. All I wanted to do at the Olympics Games was to swim a personal best time. It is what I wanted out of the whole Tokyo experience"

"It is always lovely to be recognised for what you are doing, but it should never be the sole purpose to do what you are doing. If you are swimming to get recognised, then you’re doing it for the wrong reasons. You should do it for the love of the sport, the love of being active and the experiences that come with it. If you then get recognised for doing something great it is only a bonus and it doesn’t define you."

"To overcome challenges, it is good to reach out to family and friends and I do believe it means having a great bond between you and your coach to always let them know how you are feeling since all kinds of challenges can affect your training."

"It is always a great feeling to do well with a lot of your teammates and to have hard work pay off."

"I would love to be able to show younger women that we as women are so much stronger when we support one another. I believe that swimming should stay in the pool and as soon as the race is over, you celebrate one another no matter the outcome. Women need to stand together."

"I train together with Tatjana and teammates are very important to me. Your teammates are the ones who push you when you feel like you cannot carry on. The Tuks swim team environment is constantly evolving and getting better but like they say a rising tide lifts all the boats."

"I was not particularly good at everything, I must say. I tried to be good at everything but swimming finally chose me. When I say that swimming chose me I mean that I started doing better in swimming than in the other sports and started loving my time in the pool with all my friends."

"I would give them the advice to never lose the hunger to be better. Every day I wake up wanting to better and to achieve better, but not better than someone else but better than me."

"Make sure that you challenge yourself to be a whole person, work on yourself not just physically but take care of yourself emotionally, spiritually and mentally. It takes a whole person to succeed. Lastly, build a support system around you that will support you through the highs and the lows since swimming is not an individual sport, you might swim alone but it takes a team to get you faster."