Grinnell swimmer to compete at World Swimming Championships
GRINNELL, Iowa – Last summer, Grinnell College swimmer Joshua Tibatemwa ’19 had the thrilling experience of competing in the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Later this month, Tibatemwa makes another splash on the international stage when he represents his native Uganda at the 17th FINA World Championships swimming and diving competition in Budapest, Hungary.
Tibatemwa says he will compete in the 50-meter breaststroke and 100 freestyle. The breaststroke preliminaries are slated for Tuesday, July 25, and the freestyle the following day.
Tibatemwa said he learned plenty from his Olympic experience, as well as his past season competing for the Pioneers.
“The Olympics taught me that small increments are important,” he said. “It’s great to have big dreams, but small steps are how you get there. So this season I have been focusing on those small steps I can make to get better and hopefully the results will show up when I finally race. I’ve been working a lot on my breaststroke technique and I want to see how that race plays out.”
Tibatemwa has some general goals for the meet.
“Since I haven’t swam either of the two events at a major competition in a while, I am curious to see the results of the training I have been doing with Tim (Grinnell assistant coach Tim Hammond),” he said. “I aim to make personal-best times, hopefully in both events. As for placement, I cannot be sure of where I hope to place before I see the heat sheets. I’m just hoping to do the best I can.”
However Tibatemwa fares, he knows the experience will be a big asset as he prepares for his junior season with the Pioneers. An added bonus this season will be his brother Elisha joining him at Grinnell as a student and member of the swimming team.
“Elisha and I haven’t been in the same school for about four years, so it will be interesting to see what happens,” he explained. “It will be nice to have him on the same swim team for more than three months at a time. Usually I could only train with him when I went home for the summer break. Also now I don’t have to call and ask how he is doing.”
