Catching up with Olympian Calvyn Justus was just so inspirational. Vlogger to Blogger I deeply admire his well seasoned and always in season work as a photographer and videographer, that he so brilliantly combines with the biggest love of his life – his swimming. I love it when our athletes create this synergy between their sport and either academics or another passions in life. Thus ensuring that they never fall out of options.
As always with Calvyn the elements of turning everything that he puts his hand to into a fun filled journey is what keeps his many fans coming for more!
He has this to say in answer to the question ‘who are you?’ – “Who I am now, who I was last month or who I will be next month is completely different, I feel like I’m at that age where I’m busy finding myself and growing into the man I want to be. I’m growing a strong passion for content creation in the form of photography and videography and of course the swimming passion has stuck through all these years, but I can’t say for sure who I will be in a few years from now all I can say is that I would love to see a more goal driven, adventurous, spontaneous, motivated and fearless version of myself”.
Below -Calvyn by – Brian Spurr Photography
Calvyn Justus
Athlete: Bio / Stats |
|
| Name & Surname | Calvyn Justus |
| Nick Name | Vyn J |
| Date of birth | 14 December 1995 |
| Place of birth | Benoni, Johannesburg |
| Current City | Durban |
| Height | 1.97m |
| Weight | 78Kgs |
| Shoe Size | UK 11 |
| Club | Seagulls swimming club |
| Coach’s Name | Graham Hill |
| Out of Country meets (most recent) | Amsterdam swim cup (December) |
| Favorite City | New York City |
| Favorite Song/ Type of music | A band called 21 pilots |
| Favorite Movie | The Intern with Anne Hathaway and Robert Deniro |
| Tertiary Inst Name/ Year | Westville boys high school |
| Sponsors | Arena swim wear & Nutritech supplements |
| Twitter and Instagram | Twitter & Instagram – @Calvynjustus
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| Web site | www.calvynjustus.com |
| Parents Names, siblings | George Justus (father), Kayleen and Shish (sisters) |
INTERVIEW:
Q: You have just realized a lifelong dream to qualify for the Rio Olympics. Wow and well done. What is on your heart and mind right now concerning this qualification?
Thank you very much! Honestly it’s still not sunk in, I’ve spent my entire swimming life dreaming of making this team and now to have finally realized that goal is quite surreal, the support and love from my friends, family and supporters has been overwhelming and I’m incredibly excited for what lies ahead!
Q: Respecting and being grateful for the journey that you, your parents and coaches have been on till now. Also for the benefit and encouragement of young and up-coming little dreamers that see you as a hero – how was your swimming performances at about age 13/14? What was your regime like at that ages/s?
Starting swimming at the age of 9, now nearly 12 years later, it’s been a long and strenuous path, not just for me but for everyone around me involved in helping me achieve this dream. Especially my father who in the earlier years leading right up till I got my own car, had to wake up at around 4 A.M. with me to take me to training and wait whilst I swum for 2 hours. That’s something I’m eternally grateful for because without support like that I would have never been able to do this. To the young kids in similar positions I think it’s important to realize how much our parents and coaches do for us during those years!
Q: Beside swimming, what else do you have a passion for?
When I’m not swimming I love creating, I love taking photographs and creating videos, most of which I upload to my YouTube channel “Calvyn Justus” it’s a fast growing passion of mine that includes a large part of my swimming life as well. I’m having a lot of fun combining the two worlds and am very grateful to all the people supporting my journey in doing so.
Q: What is your personal favourite motivational quote?
There’s a couple I like but one that’s stuck this past year is: “stay hungry, stay foolish” – Steve jobs. I interpret it as stay hungry for your goals, stay driven and stay motivated. I understand the “stay foolish” part as be seen as foolish to the rest of the world, chase dreams so big that people will think you’re foolish or crazy to do so!
Q: When an athlete hits some “hard / difficult” patch in their sports career, what goes through your mind at that time? What advice can you give other young athletes in this regard?
There’s only ever two thoughts when you hit a rough patch and it’s the fight or flight reaction. You either want to fight harder, it motivates you and makes you more driven to succeed or it breaks you down, makes you want to give up or move on. I was unfortunate to have missed the world championship team to Russia last year; I used that as a fight reaction and used it to motivate myself to make the Olympic team this year. If you want it bad enough, the fight reaction will always be your first.
Q: In your opinion, how do you define greatness in life?
I define greatness as:
a). Setting a goal for yourself and achieving said goal.
b). Achieving what others said you couldn’t and
c). Striving to achieve what others can’t.
Q: What’s your WHY ? Why do you do what you do?
I guess I do what I do because I have goals and dreams of doing big things and being on top of the world and the things I’m doing in my life at the moment, swimming/photos/videos – are the paths I want to take to get there! If I’m to be seen as an influencer and have the youth look up to me id want it to be for chasing your dreams and not being afraid to do so, not giving up and staying determined. Most importantly, not being scared to be different!
Q: One thing about Calvyn that the world does not know 🙂
I’m a huge fan of the TV series ‘New Girl’ it’s my favorite!
Q: Favourite meal?
500g steak and chips or large double quarter pounder meal with 20 chicken nuggets from McDonalds!
Thank you so much for taking this interview. We would like to wish you all the best for your journey ahead. We look forward to following you as you go from strength to strength. Blessings!
NB – All images were supplied by the athlete to Heslop Sports. If there are any images that are not credited correctly, please email info@heslopsports.co.za with the details and we will gladly do so immediately.
