22 Jul 2021

Botswana swimmer, James Freeman, will kickstart his competition at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics on Saturday with the 400 metre freestyle heats.

The 200 metres freestyle would follow on Sunday.

Despite making his debut at the Olympics, Freeman is not new to the international stage as he represented Botswana at the 2017 Commonwealth Youth Games in Bahamas where he won a bronze medal in the 1500m freestyle.

In 2018, he won three medals in different events at the African Youth Games in Algeria.

He snatched a gold medal in the 800m freestyle, silver in the 400m breaststroke and bronze in 200m freestyle.

In 2019, Freeman competed at the World Aquatics Championships although he did not make it to the finals, while in the 2020 Zone IV Africa Swimming Championships (CANA) he won several gold medals in different events. 

His coach, Alison Le Grange, said in an interview on Thursday that Freeman had come out of 10 days of isolation and was training in Yokohama.

He said they moved to the athletes’ village on Monday evening, adding that the training in Yokohama went well, adding that they had already done two sessions in the competition pool and Freeman was looking sharp and in a good mental space. ends