Dolphins inspired by Olympic gold medalist’s visit

MEMBERS of Strule Dolphins received an inspirational visit from Olympic gold medal winning swimmer, Jack McMillan and Aquatic GB’s Head of Innovation, Biomechanics and Performance Analysis, Oliver Logan last Thursday evening.

During the visit, Dolphins members not only received some coaching from Jack and Oliver, but they also got to race against the Olympic champion and had the chance to hold his gold medal, three experiences that were very well received by those in attendance.

During the training session at Omagh Leisure Centre last week, Jack and Oliver, the latter of whom lives in Fintona, provided tips, advice and drills to help the swimmers improve their swimming technique.

“Of course, getting to see and hold an Olympic gold medal fresh from Paris was a special highlight! Jack was a great sport and gave demonstrations and then he raced with some of our local swimmers too – you might be able to guess who won!,” beamed club coach and one of the event organisers, Joe Mullan.

“The kids loved it. The children were really delighted to have an Olympic swimmer right next to them.

“To be in the pool alongside an Olympian and for him to be talking to them directly was great. They were all very inspire by it and buzzing afterwards.

“They were impressed by his physical presence, his height, his stature but what the children enjoyed was he was just down to earth and easy to speak to. He was just talking to them like he was another swimmer at practice.

“This was an experience for the children, coaches and parents to treasure.”

Dolphins members are now looking forward to seeing Jack’s career go from strength to strength.

Jack, who comes from Belfast and trained at Bangor for years, moved to train at Stirling University after the Tokyo Olympics and he trains there alongside other elite athletes such as Olympian Duncan Scott. And in Paris during the summer he won the men’s 200m freestyle relay gold medal with Team GB.

“Congratulations to Jack on his tremendous achievement with Great Britain’s men’s 200m Freestyle relay swim team and to Oliver on his exciting position of advising some of the greatest athletes in the world,” Joe added.

“The Strule Dolphins wish Jack every success in his swimming career and hope to watch him race at the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games and fingers crossed for his preparation to qualify for the next Olympics at Los Angeles, in 2028.

“The Strule Dolphins are extremely grateful for these two guests taking the time to visit them and making this particular training session so inspiring!”