Olympics is Holly’s goal

By Jarrod Potter
NOT many people feel the urge to jump into Lake Hazelwood, let alone swim kilometres in it, but Holly Dever is an exception.
Dever, 15 who swims for the Haileybury Waterlions, won the five-kilometre swim in her age group and was assessed as leading the 10km race when it was called off on account of bad weather.
“I was pretty happy with the win as it was my first state age medal and it excited me to see the possibilities for nationals coming up,” Dever said.
“In the 5km I got the gold medal and swam a time of one hour and four minutes.
“I swam most of the race with the girl who won the 16-year-olds event, so then she took off after two kilometres and then I swam by myself for the rest.
“At the end I was relieved it was finished. I wasn’t expecting to medal.
“The next day I had the 10km and they ended up stopping us after 5km because it got really foggy, but a couple of days after they pulled us out, they released the results and I found out I won my age group.”
Dever started pursuing open water swimming after not getting the results she desired in the pool.
“I started doing open water a couple of years ago because I wasn’t really performing well in the pool,” Dever said.
“They only had the shorter events open to my age group, so I started open water swimming and have been doing it ever since.”
Add to the Hazelwood swim the Portsea Classic and Bonbeach Open Water Swim, and Dever has completed the majority of open water events in Victoria.
For now, she is preparing for some time back in the pool, with state championships in December before getting back out in the open to compete in the Open Water Nationals in February.
Dever’s aim for swimming is nothing short of the sport’s peak; to compete in the Olympics.
“I’d love to compete in the Olympics; I want to see how far open water swimming can take me.”