Funkita signs Aussie Olympian Blair Evans
Funkita welcomes Blair to the F-Team
Funkita is excited to announce that Olympian Blair Evans has joined the F-Team!
The 25-year-old's incredible gold medal swim in the 400IM at the Australian trials in April secured her a spot at Rio. Blair won a silver medal in the 4 x 200m freestyle relay in London 2012.
Blair wears Crystal Clash from Luma Nation
Her 4:35.26 time and gold medal may have surprised some but not Blair or her coach Bud McAllister. Blair had been struggling with serious shoulder and neck injuries that threatened to end her swimming career since London 2012 and at one point was given just a 2% chance of returning to competitive swimming.
Those odds would be scary for most athletes, but not for Blair who has come back from much worse. When she was just 11-years-old, Blair was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer in her hip which led her to have major surgery. Only after the surgery she was told that the original diagnosis was wrong. Instead she learned that she had suffered a severe infection and couldn't run again. Blair had to give up netball, but it was then that she turned to swimming - and hasn't looked back!
"Swimming started as a therapy. I couldn't do anything else so I was almost forced into it. I credit that with helping me learn a lot of lessons in life. It teaches you about winning and losing. Sometimes you can lose everything but you can come back from that," she says.
Her 4:35.26 time and gold medal may have surprised some but not Blair or her coach Bud McAllister. Blair had been struggling with serious shoulder and neck injuries that threatened to end her swimming career since London 2012 and at one point was given just a 2% chance of returning to competitive swimming.
Blair wears Square Bare from Luma Nation
Blair certainly knows what it's like to lose everything. Having been given slim odds of returning to competitive swimming at the highest level she lost all funding and was forced to change coaches. Despite all of that, the Perth based swimmer was focused on fulfilling her dream even though medical professionals told her it was impossible.
"Because of what I've been through I always think that there's nothing that I can't do. It was really difficult at the beginning as I could only train for a few weeks at a time. My coach Bud was really patient with me. It's not easy coaching an injured swimmer. He's also someone who really calms me down. He would always say 'I think you can do this, so let's just do this!"
Blair is excited to travel to Rio and feels her experience from London will help her perform at her best in the 2016 instalment. Despite all she's been through she says she wouldn't change a thing.
"I've really grown as a person because of what I've been through."
Welcome to the F-Team Blair! We're proud to support you on your journey and beyond.
Check out a recent story in The West Australian newspaper on Blair.