How do you launch an Olympic swimming team in a country that has just one public pool for a population of more than ten million people?
Drowning is a leading cause of death in Haiti, according to the Haitian Federation of Aquatic Sports and Rescue. Despite it being an island nation, only 1 percent of its population knows how to swim.
“That’s what this whole journey has been,” she says. “It’s been my parents and I really working with people in Haiti to create a swim team and see if that can create a sport.”
The aquatic federation’s president, Evenel Mervilus, had been tracking Grand’Pierre’s athletic accomplishments.
“It was one of most relieving moments ever,” Grand’Pierre recalls. “Before, I was swimming just to swim. But now I could see how that faith we put into something uncertain really turned this dream we had into reality.”
“It is a lot of pressure, especially since all of it’s so new,” she says. “When I perform in the water I’m not just Naomy anymore. My image is representative of what people see my country as, and I want to use this platform to elevate Haiti.”
