Barbados’ Gabriella Babb wins first national medal in 50m butterfly race at age of 7

Barbados: Gabriella Babb from Barbados won her first national medal which was a bronze medal in the 50m butterfly race at the age of seven. She has remained great inspiration for the swimmers in the country.

From there, nothing could keep the little water princess out of the pool and she has now competed in a number of local and regional swim meets and she has stood on the podium at all of them.

In March 2022, Babb competed in the Barbados Aquatic Sports Association’s (BASA) Long Course Swimming Championships and captured the title for the most outstanding swimmer in the eight and under division for girls after bagging seven gold medals.

Later that year in June, Babb topped the under-8 division with 61 points at the 30th Annual Aquatic Centre Invitational and then went on to represent Barbados at the 2022 Goodwill Games in Trinidad. It was her first regional outing on a national swim team and she won one gold medal, 2 silvers and one bronze medal from individual events and one silver in the mixed relay in the 8 and under age group and she placed third in her division with 39 points.

In December 2022, she swam her way to the top of the 8 and under division at the National Short Course Swimming Championships with 61 points.

In March 2023 she competed in the Long Course Nationals at the Wildey Aquatic Centre entering a new age group and winning 3 bronze medals.

Unfortunately for the water Princess, she suffered a broken hand and missed the 2023 Goodwill Games in July, but she was back in the pool at the 2023 Inter-school swimming championship in November, when she represented St. Gabriel’s School with outstanding results. She was the 9-10 girls age group champion at that meet and she earned the most individual points for her school and led them to win the championship.

In February, Gabriella Babb proved her determination in the pool when she made a big splash on the opening night of the 2024 Barbados Aquatic Swimming Association’s long course national championships.

Swimming in the girls’ 9-10 age group, Gabriella Babb won the 100m butterfly race in 1:20.68 minutes a time much faster than the boys in the same age group and race. She also won the 100 metres freestyle and the 50 metres backstroke races and at the end of the meet she won 9 gold medals and 2 silver medals and was the 9-10 age group champion with 95 points.

Following that outstanding performance, Gabriella Babb participated in the RHAC swim meet in Saint Lucia earlier this month where she won one gold, 8 silvers and one bronze medal and placed second in her age group. She also participated in the 11-14 girls 200 Medley which placed first and set a new meet record.

Swimming is her passion, but this talented and well-rounded young lady who was chosen to switch on the lights for independence in 2022 also enjoys dancing. She started to train in ballet at the age of four and did that for five years before moving on to Jazz and hip hop. She is also very useful at school where she is a member of the school’s ‘Tech Team’ that organises the technical equipment for events such as assembly.