SMITH Kierra

General
ECCENTRIC COACH
She transferred to the Liquid Lightning Swim Club when she was 14 so that she could train with coach Emil Dimitrov. "I was afraid at first because I was young and shy, and he was crazy, had a thick Bulgarian accent, and was so eccentric." Despite this initial shyness, she says training with Dimitrov made her enjoy swimming more and helped her to overcome the monotony of the training. "You could call him a mad scientist. He sometimes comes to the pool and says he dreamed about a drill or something. And then we'll try it. With Emil, you'll never really know what's going to happen in practice. We might be diving off the blocks with weight belts on our waist, or jumping over pool noodles. Or he'll have hoops in the water we'll have to dive through." In March 2020 she reconnected with Dimitrov and spent the next four months training at his outdoor pool in Kelowna, BC, Canada, during the COVID-19 pandemic. "We've gone back to the basics. Emil listened and that really helped me develop a cohesive breaststroke. It made a difference the way people speak to you when you train and luckily for me he was willing to work with me. It makes trying to be the best in the world a lot easier." (kelownacapnews.com, 24 Dec 2020; mndaily.com, 07 Oct 2020; kelownadailycourier.ca, 29 Apr 2020; SwimSwam YouTube channel, 25 Mar 2020; kelownanow.com, 26 Feb 2016)

OCCUPATION
In May 2020 she began working as athlete relations staff at Canadian Athletes Now Fund [CAN Fund]. (LinkedIn profile, 22 Nov 2020; Facebook page, 07 Jun 2020)