Hey! Let me introduce myself… my name is Chloe Gubecka. I am an 18 year old athlete on the Australian Dolphins Swim Team (#811).

Call me crazy, but I specialise in 10km open water swimming. However, I am not a stranger to pool competitions.

My passion for swimming began from the young age of 5 months, when I was first exposed to Learn to Swim at the Kawana Aquatic Centre. Fast forward to the age of 6, I began competing in the pool and fell in love with the training component, as well as the social aspect. Since then, I’ve never looked back. Currently, I still train at the Kawana Aquatic Centre with an amazing group of like-minded, successful athletes.

I’ve been travelling to World Cup competitions with the Australia Swim Team since the age of 15 and, as of last year, I was blessed to have the opportunity to represent Australia at the World Championships in South Korea in the 5km Open Water event.

Currently, my training program consists of 10 swim sessions, 2 gym sessions along with 2 runs per week.

My focus now is towards Junior Worlds, which I qualified for later this year, where I will travel to the Seychelles and compete in the 10km event.

My long-term goal is to compete at the 2024 Olympics for Australia in the 10km Open Water. I am looking forward to the journey I am about to embark on and the opportunities that hopefully come my way.

I applied for the High Performance Student Athlete Program because I wanted to be part of a group of sporting athletes who had similar attitudes, values and beliefs, and understand the pressure and stress of trying to balance University work with sporting commitments.

Throughout my time at USC, I hope to gain knowledge in my chosen course, learn more about myself as well as my peers, and to grow/develop as a person in the hope to be able to give back to the community and help others and make a small difference in someone’s life.

Learn more about the High Performance Student Athlete Program and how to apply.