Interview with Gabriel Grauwde

By Kristina Taylor GAC 2012 Class

            Gabriel Giano Hesdie Jr., Grauwde was born on August 29^th, 1994.  He is a young yet mature athlete with many prestigious achievements.  Some of his major achievements are winning first place in the Telesur Swim Marathon on the Suriname River and first place in many international swim meets.  He also won second place in the annual Staatsolie Swim Marathon in the Suriname River and attended the World Triathlon in Switzerland.  Although he has a very busy schedule during the week, he still has time to spend time with his lovely family.  Gabriel’s swim achievements and his amusing personality has made him an extremely popular teenager in Suriname and throughout the Caribbean.  He is also known for his quick, witty, and sometimes pompous remarks on some topics, but that is also what makes him a distinct individual at his high school.  On Wednesday, November 23^rd, I interviewed Gabriel Grauwde and I asked him the following set of questions:

Q:  Name the first thoughts that come to your mind while you swim.

A:  “I think about the race and how I am going to win the race.”

Q:  At what age did you start swimming?

A:  “I started swimming when I was four years.”

Q:  Would you say you started swimming for fun and exercise or did you start to become the high achieving athlete you are today?

A:  “I started swimming for fun and I loved the water.  When I saw that I had talent, I started to swim for competitions.”

Q:  Did you have any inspirations to start swimming or were you just persuaded by your parents?

A:  “Ian Thorp inspired me to swim.”

Q: How old were you when you started swimming competitions? Do you remember the competition? If so, explain.

A:  “I was 7 years old.  It was the Short Course Nationals in Barbados, I swam the 50m breast- stroke, and I won a silver medal.  It was a fun and intense competition despite my age.”

Q:  About how many medals and trophies do you have?

A:  “I have about 400 medals and 21 trophies.”

Q:  I heard you recently won the Telesur Marathon on the Suriname River, how do you feel about that achievement?

A:  “I feel proud because I won, and I am really proud of myself; on the other hand, I felt disappointed because I expected to win something more than a trophy.  Without the support from m friends and family, I do not think that I would have won”

Q:  Explain the feel of the Marathon.

A:  “ It was an intense race, yet at the same time the intensity made me excited!”

Q: About how many hours do you swim per week?

A: “I swim 15 hours of training per week.”

Q:  Do you have those days where you say you don’t want to go to training?

A:  “Yes I do, but I have a goal to achieve, so I must work towards that goal.”

Q:  Do you have any role models?

A:  “Michael Pheleps and Kosuke Kitajima motivate me the most.”

Q:  Is there a message you want to give the other swimmers out there, maybe a message of motivation?

A:  “I just want to say, ‘hard work pays off’!”