Niles North swimmer, Azra Avdic is qualified to be in the swimming division of the Olympics.

“It’s sort of surreal, like I guess it really hasn’t hit me that I’m most likely going to be in the olympics, but when I try to think about it, I’m proud that my hard work has paid,” Avdic said.

To get to know more about Azra, I did a little Q and A to get to know what it’s like ot have your dreams accomplished.

Q: What are your strengths?

A: “My strengths? Hmmmmmm.. I’m actually physically very weak, but I’m a different person when I have my competitions, I enjoy competition, although it’s nerve racking, I love to race, not a lot of people like to race, but it’s my favorite part. Another strength you could say is endurance, after 11 years in the sport it’s something I picked up, and it’s helped me tremendously in a variety of races,”
Q:What Motivates you?

A: “this is a bit personal, but it’s ok, I guess it’s time for people to mind of hear about it..? A lot has happened to me the past year or so, and it’s made a tremendous impact on my life, I was lucky enough to have someone as good as my coach to get me through it, but I guess getting out of the situation I’m in motivated me..? I didn’t want to be just some average joe, I wanted to go somewhere, make my parents proud, but also make myself proud. I want to show people that whatever happened can’t break me, and that I’m strong enough to get through things and come out as successful as I can,”

Q: How hard did you have to work to make your dreams come true?

A: “I guess I work pretty hard, I can’t really make that judgment, because I don’t want people to see me as arrogant and too proud of myself, but I’ve worked hard enough to get me where I am today, I’m human, I have my really good days where I can do great at practice, but I also have bad days where it doesn’t go as planned. So, I’d like to think I give it my all, but I can’t really judge myself on this,”

Q: What is your life like with so much on your plate?

A: “I’ve done a lot to achieve my dream, and I guess that’s something people don’t notice, not just with me, but most swimmers, even committed athletes. In order to be successful in something you have to make priorities, you can’t have everything. For me, I decided to focus more on my sport and school, rather than a big social life, i know hat sounds like I’m antisocial, sometimes I feel like I am, but days I wish I had a social life, I tell myself the number of friends I have isn’t going to be what’s paying my college tuition, doing well in my sport is,”

Q:: When did you start swimming?

A:: “I started swimming, because my dad wanted me to learn how to swim so I wouldn’t die if someone pushed me in the water, I started at about 6 years old, I’ve been part of different club swim teams, I love swimming because the pool is where I love to be, some of my closest friends are there with me, and I spend a lot of time there, so you learn to live it after a while,”

So what’s next for Azra? Azra Avdic will attend University of Missouri and will still continue to do swimming. Along her journey Azra will try out for the Olympics and will work hard to make her dreams come true.