The water polo goalkeeper is passionate about getting blacks to swim

One percent of water polo players at the college and university level in the United States are black. Here in the sport’s Olympic tournament in Tokyo, there are 260 players on the women’s and men’s side – only four are of African American origin.

The woman who raised her voice on this issue remains in front of us in the mixed zone after the US 18-5 victory against the Russian team (ROC). Her name is Ashleigh Johnson, she is the team’s goalkeeper and he has a friendly smile. She is not tired of talking about her heart issue: the lack of black people in water sports. We ask how her platform has changed since the Olympic gold in Rio 2016.

– It has changed. Today I understand that I represent something bigger than myself, my family and my team. It has taken time, I rejected that responsibility in the beginning.

The 26-year-old has come to win his second – and the United States’ third – straight Olympic gold in water polo. But she wants much more than that.

– I want to represent and be a mirror for the people who look up to me. It is a mission I have, to be a role model for young, black girls and others who want to practice this sport, she says.

Jim Crow Laws (which existed between 1876 and 1965) in the American South aimed to separate ethnic groups. Blacks were stopped from swimming pools and occasionally attacked while bathing.

– I carry this with me forward every day. It has taken time and effort for me to understand the historical exclusion of African Americans in the sport of swimming, says Ashleigh Johnson.

Growing up in Florida around the turn of the millennium, mother Donna insisted that the family’s five children learn to swim. Ashleigh has previously told Time Magazine that children and adults – all white – often asked her if dark-skinned people really float.

To DN she says:

– I had to separate myself from my skin color, it is a very isolating experience. Today I see a greater community between brown and black in our sport, which is cool.

Ashleigh Johnson fastnade early for water polo and was later recruited to Princeton University. There she practiced her sport and took a degree in psychology. When the last thing happened, in 2017, she had already won Olympic gold with the national team in Rio.

Here in Tokyo, the USA has won three of the first matches and is the favorite for a new Olympic gold.

– That is our goal. I see that potential in this as well in the team, she says.

Today, Ashleigh Johnson sits on the board of an alliance in water sports that works with diversity and inclusion. And she has engaged in a problem that extends beyond the United States: swimming skills among blacks. A report from the American Swimming Federation 2017 said that 64 percent of African-American children aged 4-18 had no or low swimming skills, compared to 40 percent among whites. Statistics from the CDC (US National Public Health Agency) have also shown that the risk of drowning among blacks is 1.5 times greater than for whites.

Since two years ago leads Ashleigh Johnson’s swimming schools for children in Miami.

– Swimming is a life-saving knowledge, she says. I work with this issue all the time, a more equal swimming sport and to give children more access to water sports.

We ask what response Ashleigh Johnson receives from young blacks and their parents. The mouthguard ends up on the snout when she shines up in a big smile.

– I get a lot of messages, they are expectant to start with sports, they want to be where I am. It drives me forward. I know how great it is to be able to see yourself in a place where you want to come.

Is that enough? Is your sport changing?

– From my perspective: yes. Above all, I hear many more stories from people of color, positive and negative. There is room for those stories now, people are being listened to.

– But I want to see more colored people start with this sport, which has given me so many opportunities. Many more deserve the chance to travel abroad and grow as people.

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