Getting to know: William Petric

William Petric is an Individual Medley swimmer and will be debuting at the Paris Olympics in 2024.

After starting swimming as a 9 year old, Will fell in love with the sport and hasn’t looked back! He trains with Nunawading Swim Club at Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre, and we caught up with him before he set off for the training camp in France.

Congratulations on your selection, has the feeling sunk in yet?

It’s a dream come true. Ever since starting the sport of swimming, the dream is to make the Olympic Games so very excited.

What do you love most about swimming?

I think it’s go something to do with the tranquility of being under the water, you know? When you go under the water, you just forget about all the outside noise. So that’s one thing I really like about it. But another thing I really like about it is the tenacity that’s required to take it to the top of the sport. It’s not like other sports, you’ve really got to be pretty hard driven and dedicated.

What does training look like for an Individual Medley?

I found out that I was proficient in all four strokes when I got into the water. So the training regime, it’s not really an even split, like, not 25% of each stroke, you’re kind of still training to your strength. So for me, that’s the breaststroke, so you’d almost say that a third of the training is breaststroke. And then the other three are split amongst that two thirds. So, it’s definitely breaststroke dominant, but still with sprinkle of the other three strokes.

You’ve been training here at MSAC in preparation for the Olympics, what do you like about getting to use the facilities here?

I think it’s the luxury of having a lot of space and not getting in each other’s way. I grew up where I had to train in school pools, 25 metre pools, and that would be having 6 to 8 people per lane. When swimming, you’d have your hands touching the bottom of the floor. And now to have the abundance of lane space here coupled with the facilities of the changerooms, I’ve used the sauna a couple of times here and all of that combines and it’s great to have this and I’m very fortunate.

Have you been to Paris before and what are you most looking forward to about getting to the city?

No, I haven’t been to Paris before, what I’m most looking forward to is one, being a bit of a fanboy and seeing all the big names, but also just soaking up that Olympic spirit. And I think it will really just re-assure myself that this is the thing that I really want to do. And, you know, I’ll pretty much be a kid in the candy shop!

How would you describe your swimming in three words?

I would say poised, flexible, enthusastic!