World champion swimmer Emily Seebohm reveals her brush with death in the pool

A WORLD champ says Queensland children are at risk of losing out on learning life-saving lessons, as schools instead focus only on ‘book smarts’.

WORLD 200m backstroke champion Emily Seebohm says school swimming lessons saved her life.

When she was two years old, Seebohm accidentally fell in the family pool at Bracken Ridge, in Brisbane’s north, and her two older brothers Tom and Jack fished her out with a broom handle.

“If they had not learned how to swim and stay safe, I would have drowned,” says the 25-year-old, who is preparing to trial for the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast.

“Luckily for me they did, and I ran up the stairs fully clothed and Mum asked, ‘where have you been?’ and I said, ‘I’ve been swimming!’

“Not everyone is that lucky.”

Seebohm can’t understand why swim and water safety lessons are not compulsory in primary school.

Supporting News Queensland’s S.O.S. Save Our Schoolkids campaign to mandate and benchmark lessons, she says being “life smart” is more valuable than being “book smart”.

“You can’t read about how to save your life, or someone else’s, you have to know how to do it,” she said.

“Living in Queensland, it’s almost guaranteed that you’ll be around a pool, in the ocean, on a lake – and it’s important to know that at least if you fall in or get caught in a rip, you’ll know how to get back to the side or to the shore and get out of that dangerous situation.”

Seebohm and her siblings, including younger brother Will (who is also trialling for the Commonwealth Games), were all taught to swim by their mother Karen, a qualified learn-to-swim teacher currently working at Ascot State School.

Swimming champs Mitch Larkin and Emily Seebohm. Picture: Nigel Hallett

“Mum taught us first in our backyard pool and then I got lessons in primary school at St Joseph’s (Bracken Ridge). Our school didn’t have a pool so the class travelled by bus to Nudgee College (Boondall).

“Kids don’t have to learn to swim 50 laps but at least be able to comfortably swim one lap. It shouldn’t be left to parents to make sure this happens.”

Seebohm, whose partner and fellow swim star Mitch Larkin learned to swim at Wishart State School, says it’s “sad to think not every kid has the opportunity to swim”.

“It is very expensive for parents to go out and get lessons so if they were offered in schools that would be reassurance for everyone,” he said.

“Being able to swim is a life-saving skill, and being surrounded by water as we are in Queensland it is a skill everyone needs.”

Emily Seebohm and Mitch Larkin share their story of love for each other – and the pool – in the new U magazine this Sunday in The Sunday Mail.