Okaro 'honoured' to make Team GB history in pool

Eva Okaro finished second in the 100m freestyle and 50m freestyle at the British trials

Teenager Eva Okaro is set to become the first black woman to represent Team GB in the pool at the Olympics, but insists that alone will not "define" her.

Okaro, 17, will be the youngest British swimmer in Paris for the Games, having been selected as part of the 4x100m freestyle relay team.

She will make history when she hits the water, and will follow in the strokes of Alice Dearing, who was the first black woman to compete for Team GB in a swimming event when she featured in the open water race at Tokyo 2020.

Kevin Burns, who competed in Montreal in 1976, was the first black male British swimmer at an Olympics.

"It's an honour to be in this position, but at the same time I feel like it's a bit weighty," Okaro told BBC Radio Derby.

"I don't think I will be defined as that person, and if I am it's not something I want to be defined as."

Still, Okaro knows that when she splashes into the water at the Olympic Aquatics Centre in Saint-Denis, located in the northern suburbs of the French capital, she will have the power to influence future generations of athletes back home.

"I really enjoy inspiring the younger athletes in general, but mainly young black swimmers just to know that they can do whatever they want to do," she said.

Okaro grew up near Maidstone, in Kent, and counts her twin sister Izabella as her first rival in the pool.

She competed for clubs in Gillingham and Sevenoaks in the South East before relocating to Derbyshire where she boards and trains at Repton School.

As someone who has her A-levels to prepare for next year, selection for the Olympics and the history that beckons has been a lot to absorb.

She added: "Obviously it's exciting, but I don't think it has really dawned on me yet.

"I think it will really hit me when I'm behind the blocks about to swim and think 'Oh wow, this is the Olympics'. It just hasn't hit me yet."

As the youngest member of Team GB's 33-strong swimming squad, Okaro sees the Games as one of a number she may reach in years to come.

But she doesn't see her age and inexperience as reasons not to perform on her debut.

"I think being youngest on the team does give me that leeway in a sense, but at the same time I don’t want to be the slowest on the relay team," she said.

"I don’t want to put myself in a position where I don’t perform at my best just because of my age or anything like that."