LAST Friday, Jamaica swimming sensation Alia Atkinson made a lot of people happy. Not least among them a proud mother Sharon Atkinson.

Her world record swim of 1:02:36 minutes in the 100-metre breaststroke at the 12th FINA World Short Course Championship in Doha, Qatar, last year, not only earned her the People’s Choice Performance of the Year Award for 2014, but also the Sportswoman of the Year.

Raising and supporting a child towards his/her dream without much financial help is no easy task. And, while the pressure and sacrifice lie mainly on the shoulders of the child, there is no doubting the important role of the parent in their success.

In Alia’s case, her mother Sharon was always by her side, and today stands proud of her daughter’s crowning achievements.

“I am just happy for her right now as I can hardly find words to express my feeling for Alia at the moment. Winning both awards tonight (Friday), I am just happy for her. Once Alia is smiling I am happy. We are a track and field family, and so for Alia to excel in swimming, I am just happy,” Sharon told the Sunday Observer shortly after the RJR Sportsman and Sportswoman awards which were held at the Jamaica Pegasus hotel.

“We started out with swimming as a life skill… but she just has a passion for the sport and so we stayed with it. She is a very fantastic human being, she is very caring, she is a little bit controlling, but a very wonderful person,” said the elder Atkinson.

Sharon said she is not surprised that her offspring has such a competitive spirit, a quality she first noticed when Alia was a young girl.

“She was always a go-getter, who started swimming at age four, and I can remember when she was eight, every time she swam she was always comparing her times with boys as she only wanted to beat the boys and not the girls,” Sharon noted.

The doting mother said she recalled vividly that moment when Alia equalled the 100m breaststroke world record.

“I was very confident that Alia will be in the top three as she is a great swimmer. I was very surprised, like her, when the result showed that she won the race and what a way to do it, in record time as well.

“When she jumped, I jumped as well. While I was watching the race it felt like I was going through the water with her, it was like I was there,” she said.

“She is no longer second-best, she is Jamaica’s golden girl, and we are very proud of her. She will be expecting better things this year, and I will be where I always is, right behind her,” Sharon ended.