Fort Greene Swimmer Heads to London Olympics

Fort Greene will have a representative at the 2012 Olympics in London.

, the second African-American to qualify for the U.S. swim team, is preparing to put Brooklyn on the map in the 100-meter freestyle at the games taking place in the coming weeks.

"I'm excited," said Neal's mother Siu Neal, 59, of her daughter's pending competition in London. Soon she, her husband, Rome, and their three sons will be travelling from their home to London to cheer on Lia.

She told Patch that while Lia rarely talked about the idea of qualifying for the Olympics, it was clear early on that she had what it takes.

"She never talked about it, but she knew she liked swimming and that she liked to win," Siu Neal said. "Her old coach always said she has the potential to go really far."

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Like many other Fort Greene residents, Neal frequently headed to the pool at nearby for fun.

"When she was 6 years old, all her classmates were taking swimming lessons and she wanted to too," her mother said. "After two years, her coach recommended [she] to join [a team]."

Neal has been swimming for Asphalt Green Unified Aquatics on Manhattan's Upper East Side ever since, undertaking a schedule of schooling and training that exhausting to simply hear about. 

A typical day for Lia includes morning swim practice, going to school at Covenant of the Sacred Heart in Manhattan where she will serve as co-captain of the varsity swim team next year, completing her homework, heading back to the pool for dry land training and more swimming.

Then, it's time to sleep and get up and do it again. "Her schedule is very tight; she doesn't have time to do anything else," Sui Neal said.

But it's all worth it, she said, adding that it's her drive that people should note and not the color of her skin: "People are all talking about her race, but I think they should focus on her just making it."

Siu Neal is Chinese and Rome is African-American, making Lia the second female of African descent to make it on the swim team—a notable achievement but not her defining characteristic, her mother said. 

"[Olympic hopefuls] have to have a desire, have to want to do it, be determined and willing to work hard, willing to sacrifice their time," she said. "You don't make because of race or luck."