Mieke Muller, determined and brilliant your swimmer is proof that she can indeed be young and wise. She has a wonderful positive and joyful perspective on life that jumps out from the interview and just motives you! She is resilient, knows the grind, and willing the pay the price for success. She is an awesome young advocate for human rights, girl power ? and being thankful and grateful for the blessings that life gives us.
She says “I am a hardworking self-driven young girl that finds motivation in failure. I am an introvert and an absolute book worm. My philosophy in life is to be kind and compassionate to anyone, regardless of their background. I am in love with my country. I care a great deal for the environment and I cannot survive without swimming. I am a supporter of girl power and I hope to be an intellectual and inspiring woman now and in the future”.
Athlete: Bio / Stats |
|
| Name & Surname | Mieke Muller |
| Nick Name | Mieks |
| Date of birth | 16 September 2002 |
| Place of birth | Pretoria |
| Current City | Irene |
| Height | 173 cm |
| Weight | 59 kg |
| Shoe Size | 8 |
| Club | Tuks Swimming |
| Coach’s Name | Keenan Riffle |
| Out of Country events/ meets | Golfhino Sprint in Mozambique |
| Secondary Sport/ sports | I only do swimming |
| Favorite City | Yzerfontein |
| Favorite Song/ type of music | Feel it Still by Portugal the Man |
| Favorite Movie | Interstellar |
| School & Grade | St. Mary’s DSG, Grade 9 |
| Twitter and Instagram names, facebook name | Instagram: @mieke_.muller |
| Community / church projects involved in | The St. Mary’s DSG outreach program |
| Parents Names, siblings | Mom – Paula Muller
Dad – Hannes Muller Brother – Human Muller Sister – Zani Taitz |
INTERVIEW:
Q: You are passionate and doing so well in your Swimming tell me a little bit about how you started in Swimming and your journey in the Swimming arena up to now?
I started swimming at the age of 2 to simply learn water safety. I participated in school galas since grade 1 where I learned that my main stroke is breaststroke. At the age of 10 I moved on to competitive club swimming at Tuks and started to work my way up the different levels. After a very disappointing season in 2015 I had to redeem myself and after that I started to really work my way up the ranks and competed at my first SA Short Course this year.
Q: Who are you? Describe yourself as a person.
I am a hardworking self-driven young girl that finds motivation in failure. I am an introvert and an absolute book worm. My philosophy in life is to be kind and compassionate to anyone, regardless of their background. I am in love with my country. I care a great deal for the environment and I cannot survive without swimming. I am a supporter of girl power and I hope to be an intellectual and inspiring woman now and in the future.
Q: What is the highest accolade that you have achieved in Swimming and what is your greatest personal accomplishment?
The highest accolade I have achieved in swimming up until today is competing at the SA Short Course Championships in Pietermaritzburg. I believe that my greatest personal success is that I never leave my academics behind. I put an equal amount of work into swimming and academics. My goal is to always strive in both.
Q: Why do you have so much love and respect for your coaches?
What enhances that amazing feeling after a successful race is a huge smile and high five from my coach. Whenever I am working really hard and putting a lot of effort in to training my coach is also there on the pool deck, putting just as much hard work and effort in, and for that I have a tremendous amount of respect.
Q: Would you like to share a little bit more about your faith journey and how it has affected your life / sports?
I do believe that my talents and gifts come from the man above and in return to say thank you I must practice and develop these talents to the best of my capability.
Q: So, you are a brilliant athlete – but name 1 thing that you suck at 🙂
I was born with two left feet, I cannot dance at all.
Q: Favourite food and who must cook it?
My mom’s spaghetti bolognaise, no one can cook it like her.
Q: Value of Education in a young person’s life?
I believe that education is the third most valuable thing in a young person’s life, after food and water. Those of us who are fortunate enough to receive beyond average education should be extremely grateful. Education is so tremendously valuable to a young person’s life because it’s not just about the lessons in textbooks but it is about the life lessons it teaches you, the necessary knowledge and experiences to evolve and shape our future. A person without education might be able get to point A, but education can take a person to point B, C, D, and beyond, anywhere they would like to go.
Q: What is your definition of success in life?
To be happy and content with what you are doing for a living, whether that is being a swimmer or becoming an astronaut.
Q: What’s your WHY ? Why do you do what you do?
In 2015, I came to a point in my career where I questioned if I should continue with swimming. That was not only because I had an extremely unsuccessful season but more importantly I had no why, no motivation and no reason behind what I was doing. After many hours of contemplation, I decided to continue swimming. Only 5 months later I started to compete again and I was completely stunned with my performance. I didn’t know it at the time, but this was when I found my why. My why is that feeling of absolute joy when you redeem yourself after complete failure and show everyone, whether they believe in you or not, that you are capable of amazing things. In the future, I would like to have a positive impact on all the female swimmers in South Africa and encourage them to continue with swimming and to have confidence in themselves and what they are doing.
Q: What are you most grateful for at the moment?
My amazing parents who support and motivate me in everything I do without putting an excessive amount of pressure on me. My brilliant coach who comprehends and supports me throughout my swimming career and pushes me to my full potential. I am also grateful to be training with a such an amazing squad, we motivate each other and together we make each training session just a bit more entertaining.
Q: Anything else you would like to share?
“It’s what you do in the dark, that puts you in the light” – Michael Phelps. I do not believe in luck, if you want to achieve something you are going to have to put the hard work in to get there.
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!
