University of Regina swimmer to compete at Olympic Games

University of Regina (U of R) swimmer, Ovesh Purahoo, will compete at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games later this month for his home country of Mauritius.

Purahoo has been a key member of the U of R team since 2020. He earned a spot on his country’s Olympic team after improving his personal best at World Aquatics sanctioned events over the past year.

“In May [at the Canadian Olympic Trials] I improved my time, which improved my ranking and that consolidated my first spot on the Mauritius National Swimming Team,” Purahoo explained.

Since Purahoo swims at a Canadian university, he was able to represent his home country at the Canadian Olympic Trials since it is internationally recognized by World Aquatics.

“It was a weird feeling. It was obviously my goal for the last couple of years. So to achieve that it felt good. But the work is not done yet. We still have to go to the Olympics and to compete,” Purahoo humbly shared about the moment he realized he qualified for the games.

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“And the goal is to have a personal best over there.”

Despite his measured expectations, Purahoo was excited to talk about the people who helped get him to this point.

“It’s incredibly rewarding, especially for the people who have been supporting me for all the years. My coaches, teammates, everyone — it’s so many people! I owe this to them,” said Purahoo.

“I was really happy for him! It’s the pinnacle of the sport to be able to compete at the Olympics. I thought about how proud his family must be. I know the work that he puts in, the level that he performs at,” said Baylee Munro, Purahoo’s coach at the U of R.

“From the time that I saw him, I knew he had the physical and technical potential to be really good.”

Mauritius is a small country in East Africa, an Indian Ocean island nation. There are 13 athletes from the country heading to Paris 2024.

Purahoo will be one of two swimmers from his country to compete, but the only in the male competition. He will be competing in the 100-metre freestyle event.

“Obviously it’s a small country but lots of people know each other. Lots of friends, families. So it feels pretty cool to represent them at the Olympics,” said Purahoo.

Purahoo said he only gets to go home a couple times a year due to how expensive and hard it is to get back to his home country. But he says his family will all be watching him compete, and he’ll eventually get to go home following the Olympics.

In the meantime, he is training six days a week between the University of Regina and Lawson Aquatic Centre. The Olympic Games start on July 26 and Purahoo will take to the pool on July 30 for the 100-metre freestyle heats.

The final is slated for July 31.