Alice Dearing

Alice Dearing is a trailblazer in UK swimming, making history as the first black woman to qualify and compete in the sport for Team GB at the Olympics. Born in Birmingham in 1997, Alice’s journey began at eight-years-old when she grew up within a stone’s throw of the Sandwell Aquatics Centre. Alice has competed in three World Championships and was a junior World Champion in 2016. Her swimming career culminated in the gruelling open water 10km at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Beyond her achievements in the water, Alice co-founded the Black Swimming Association (BSA) in 2020, which aims to raise awareness of issues of water safety specifically for Black and Asian communities. The BSA highlights swimming as an essential life skill, and Alice is campaigning to change the narrative around how Black and Asian people are viewed in aquatics.

In 2022, Alice was named as a Sunday Times Changemaker of the Year and received a Sports Journalists' Association award. She is also an Ambassador for the British Elite Athletes Association.

Alice said: “Swimming has given me so many good things in my life, which I want to share with everyone, regardless of their background. I am honoured to be named as a Game Changer, and hope that this can bring further awareness of the shocking fact that around 95% of black adults in England don’t swim. Through my work with The Black Swimming Association, supported by The National Lottery, we are campaigning to ensure that people have equal access to aquatics and water safety and that you don’t have to be a certain race to be a swimmer or to know how to swim.”