Instant results

INSTANT results is part of what keeps former Australian Olympic swimmer Anna Windsor coming back to an annual Orange swimming camp.

Windsor returned to Orange this week as a guest coach for the Quality Sporting Services swimming camp.

The 31-year-old is a regular at these camps and said she enjoys helping children from country NSW to develop their skills.

“This is my 16th year,” she said. “We have to try to balance it with work and the family. They have to nab me six months in advance.”

There are more than 50 children from across country NSW attending the camp and Windsor said it poses certain challenges but they are outweighed by the positives.

“They’re a good bunch of kids and that’s why I keep coming back,” she smiled.

“They all want to be here. Most of them are from country areas so they have good manners and they listen well. There’s a lot of rawness so you see huge improvements during the camp.”

Windsor is now a general practitioner in Bowral and also coaches swimming three days a week.

The mum of one said enjoys coaching the children and sharing her knowledge with them.

Her son, Max, is 22 months old and this summer has been jumping in the pool and encouraging all the swimmers in his Mum’s group to “kick, kick, kick.”

Windsor said she has no aspirations to coach at a higher level as she likes being able to help younger swimmers develop their skills.

“I like at this level that you can do so much,” she said.

“I went to a few camps when I was little and got some direction. I hope I can give these kids a little starter.”

Windsor was born in Sydney in 1976 but came to Orange with her family when she was still a baby.

She attended Orange Public School and Kinross Wolaroi School and when she was 10 joined the Orange Association Swimming Club.

The cold Orange climate forced her to move to the Central Coast in 1992 to pursue her swimming and it paid off when she gained an Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) scholarship in 1993.

She represented Australia at the World Short Course Championships in Spain in 1993 and won two silver medals.

In 1994 she represented Australia at the Commonwealth Games and helped the women’s team to win the 4x200m freestyle relay.

In the same year she won gold in the 100m individual medley in the World Cup Series and another four silver and four bronze medals.

She represented Australia at the 1996 Olympic Games with the women’s relay team and swam in the individual medley in the 2000 Olympics.

Following this she retired from competitive swimming to complete her studies in medicine and become a doctor.

Windsor said there’s only one thing she misses from her years of elite level swimming:

“I miss being that fit,” she laughed.