Three years ago, the waters of the North Canton YMCA swimming pool were being torn and ravaged by the strokes of a future Olympian.

Hoover alumnus Ankur Poseria, currently a junior at the University of Southern California (USC), qualified to swim for India in the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympic Games. The race for his qualification is still fresh in his mind.

“[I was] ... jumping out of my skin and yelling ‘I’m going to Beijing!’” Poseria said, in an email interview.

Poseria will be competing in August in the 100-meter fly and 50-meter freestyle. Additionally, in June, he will have a chance to qualify for the 100-meter backstroke.

“He has the qualifying times for [the] U.S. Olympic trials, but knowing his times and the others, he won’t qualify to go [to the Olympics], we already know,” Poseria’s mother, Nutan Poseria said.

Poseria’s sister, junior Cullie Poseria, said he just wanted to be a part of the Beijing Summer games.

“[Swimming for India would] be just as good with extraordinarily fast swimmers,” she said. “It’s the same experience; that’s what he was looking for.”

Poseria is proud to be able to swim for India.

“I wear my Indian uniform with pride because it represents that hope and it also represents every single person that has told me how proud they are and has wished me well in my own pursuit,” he said.

But more than a fast time went into making the team. Poseria is fortunate India allows dual citizenships. He said he had to fill out some paperwork and prove he had family in India, which wasn’t a problem.

“My whole mom’s side is living in India and part of my dad’s side,” Cullie Poseria said.

However, the Olympics aren’t the first major international swimming competition Poseria has taken part in.

In the past, Poseria said he has swum in “Doha, Qatar for the ‘06 Asian Games; Melbourne, Australia, for the ‘07 World Championships; and Manchester, England, for the ‘08 World Championships.”

Although the world championships are a long way from where Poseria got his start, he hasn’t forgotten his roots.

“Of all of my affiliations, I take the most pride in being a representative swimmer of India, Hoover and the YMCA,” he said. “My years at Hoover taught me how to fight for a team.”

Poseria’s mother enrolled him for swimming at Congress Lake when he was seven, where he met future high school coach Mr. Matthew Johnsen.

Johnsen has seen Poseria develop as an athlete and is impressed with his work ethic.

“He’s very hard working and very passionate about his training,” Johnsen said.

Poseria said he wakes up at 5 a.m. to get to practice by 5:45. During a regular day he will spend close to five hours working out, including weight training as well as speed training in the pool.

Hard work was something Poseria exhibited in high school as well, leaving a legacy at Hoover, by still holding the record for the 200-yard medley relay.

“He finished third in the state for his senior year in the 100 fly,” Johnsen said. “He was actually top eight in the state for four events because he was on three relays that year as well.”

But swimming now for Poseria is different than swimming then.

“Swimming nowadays is definitely much more of an internalized sport and philosophy for me. I approach it with a very ‘zen’ attitude so that I can apply my lessons in the pool to my entire life and vice versa,” he said.

For Johnsen, seeing a former Hoover athlete entering the Olympics is something to be proud of.

“It has been a lot of fun to watch him grow up. When he was eight, he was a pudgy little kid that would show up late to every practice and every meet, and now he has the chance to represent his country for the Olympics,” he said.

Along with Johnsen, Nutan Poseria has been there since the very beginning. She has seen her son transform into an Olympian.

“I always tell him, ‘I’m going to see the world through your eyes.’ His goals are my goals,” she said, “I couldn’t be any happier. I’m very proud, I pray for him everyday.”

Everyday as his mother prays, Poseria trains for his goals.

“I had the Olympics on my mind going into high school meets as a sort of faraway dream. Now, any world championships or national championships I enter is a preparation for what’s to come in Beijing,” he said.