Gigi French Takes The Gold

Gigi French, an eight year old third-grader in the Berlin Elementary School, traveled to Harvard University in Boston, MA, on March 22 to compete in the 2009 YMCA New England Swimming Championships. 

Gigi French (in the wall lane) is poised to enter the pool in her gold medal race at Harvard on March 22. Photo by Alex French.

The YMCA New England Swimming Championships is a yearly event held in the winter/spring where all YMCA swim clubs in the six New England states send their best swimmers to compete against each other. To swim in the event, swimmers must have swim event times equal to or less than a qualifying time for a specific stroke and distance. 

Gigi swims with the Pittsfield Polar Bears in Pittsfield, MA, and had qualifying times of less than 37.80 seconds for the girls 8 and under 50 yard free style and 22.70 seconds for the girls 8 and under 25 yard breaststroke. 

Gigi swam in heat 3 of 5 in the girls 8 and under 50 yard free style and finished in 35.20 seconds for a ninth place ribbon. 

The most exciting moment for Gigi was when she swam the final heat of the girls 8 and under 25 yard breaststroke in lane 8, a wall lane. Wall lanes are harder to win in because they have more resistance for the swimmer. She expected a seventh or eighth place finish, but she took first place for all of YMCA New England in this stroke with a time of 21.21 seconds, earning her a gold medal. 

Way to go Gigi.

Gigi French swimming in her gold medal race. Photo by Alex French.