ASw is following the progress of Alice Dearing the Olympic hopeful who is aiming to be the first black woman to represent the UK in the Olympics. She has now spoken out about the challenges that she has faced as a black swimmer in a recent BBC article below. Racial discrimination in publicly- accessible pools has a long and shameful history. Wiltse’s Contested Waters (2007) stands out as a cutting analysis of the social history of municipal pools in the US. It is a tragic tale of race relations which were manifested through the segregation and banning of African-Americans from municipal pools. This included the lynching of African-Americans who attempted to swim in public pools. A racial bias can even be seen in the image from the Red Cross in the portrayal of the ‘cool’ and ‘uncool’ swimming behaviours. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/av/swimming/51483064