Alicia Coutts’ love of swimming had sad origins when she was a child

ALICIA Coutts was seven years old the day her father died. It was the day of her first-ever swimming carnival. Her mother said she shouldn’t go, but she was insistent.

ALICIA Coutts was seven years old the day her father died. It was the day of her first-ever swimming carnival. Her mother said she shouldn’t go, but she was insistent.

“I have to go,” she said. “I have to swim for Dad.”

She’s been swimming for her Dad ever since. At Rio, on night three of the Olympic meet Coutts, 28, swam her last race.

It was the final of the 200m individual medley and she finished a typically fighting fifth – the same position where she finished in the same event at her first Olympics eight years ago. In between, she was the rock of the Australian team.

Alicia Coutts during the women’s 200m individual medley final. Picture: Alex Coppel

She was never the highest-profile member of the Australian team. Never the one on the front pages of the glossies or in the gossip columns, but if the team looked to someone to put in a solid 100 percent no-frills performance when it was most needed, she never let them down.

And always there was that knowledge that she was doing it for her Dad, Gary, who was the first person to ever tell her that she would become an Olympian.

“I always have him in my mind,” she said, wiping away the tears with her towel. “I think he would be proud of my achievements.”

There is little doubt about that. Gary Coutts battled the cancer that finally took him for six and a half years. He was a fighter, and so is his daughter.

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There were five gold medals at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi; a total of eight from world championships – seven of them silver. And then there was arguably her greatest achievement: London, where she was a shining light in the gloom.

Starting with gold in the 4x100m relay, she brought home five medals – half the team’s total. In all, she retired having won 27 international medals.

And now it is over.

“That was my last race and I’m really happy. I would have liked to go faster but I’m not disappointed,” she said.

“I gave it everything I had. I tried to hold it together. My coach said ‘just enjoy it’. I tried to make sure I waved to everyone. Even though I didn’t win a medal I waved to thank everyone for supporting me …”

Alicia Coutts got her first taste of swimming the day her father died. She was meant to go to her school swimming carnival.

Another wipe of the towel.

“Sorry, I’m not crying because I’m sad … it’s just that this is a part of my life and now it’s the end of an era for me.”

And the start of a new one. Coutts and her husband of 11 months Steve Hardy will head off on a belated honeymoon to the US and Ireland soon after she returns to Australia, and then they hope to start a family.

“I’m really looking forward to it,” she said. “I’ve been wanting to for a while, I’m very clucky”.

Oh, and for the record: that first swimming carnival? She won every race.

Twenty-on years on, Alicia Coutts ended her career the same way she started. A winner.

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Originally published as Alicia Coutts’ love of swimming had sad origins when she was a child