Paraguay’s Benjamin Hockin is a man who wears many hats in his country. But the 37-year-old is proudest of the swim cap he's been putting on since 2010 when he first began representing Paraguay in national and international competition.
The only Paraguayn swimmer racing at the World Aquatics Swimming World Cup in Berlin, in just under a week he will join his younger brother and their teammates in their final preparations for the Pan American Games.
Hockin, the Pan Am Bronze medalist in the 200m freestyle, is the chairman of the Athletes Commission for his country, and a member of the Executive Board of Paraguay's National Olympic Committee. The entrepreneurial Hockin is also the owner and president of the swim club based at the national training center which he founded a few years ago.
A four-time Olympian, Hockin has the dates of the Paris 2024 Games circled on his calendar, but currently, he's rightly focused on his remaining major competition of the year, the Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile. After racing his favourite sprint events at only the first stop on the three-city Swimming World Cup in Berlin, he will fly home to Asunción, the nation’s capital. Hocking will taper before boarding a four-hour flight with his teammates, headed south to Chile's capital city.
Hockin's first Olympic appearance was at the Beijing 2008 Games representing Great Britain where he lived at that time. The 21-year-old was Team GB’s third swimmer on the men's 4x100m freestyle relay.
The British quartet finished only .21 sec behind the same four men from South Africa that set the World Record and won Olympic Gold four years earlier in the 2004 Athens Olympic Games. The South African squad finished 7th setting a new African record while the Brits finished in 8th place, more than 4.5 seconds behind the Olympic gold medal-winning relay.
Even British swimming fans may not remember Hockin splitting a 48.50 or the new British record that he and his teammates set in the prelims and bettered in the finals.
All eyes were on the battle between France and the USA for Olympic gold. French swimmer Amaury Leveaux swam an eye-popping 47.76 in the heats. France seemed to have a clear path to Olympic Gold in the finals with Alain Bernard anchoring their relay; Bernard was the owner of the world record in the 100m freestyle, 47.50
Eamon Sullivan gave both countries something to worry about when he swam a new world record in the leadoff leg for Australia.
But it was the incredible once-in-a-lifetime performance from American anchor Jason Lezak that powered the USA to a new world record time, enabling Michael Phelps to continue his quest for eight gold medals at the Beijing Olympic Games.
Hockin's first and only Olympic final was in the most epic swimming relay of all time, the fastest heat in Olympic history on a night in which there was only one Olympic gold medal, and no losers. That Olympic milestone was more than 15 years ago, but joyfully recalled by Hockin, who is among the oldest competitors at this year’s Swimming World Cup in Berlin.
Hockin arrived this week in Berlin after four days in Lausanne, Switzerland where he was part of the IOC’s International Athletes Forum.
More than 400 athletes attended the largest gathering of athlete representatives from every sport and across the world, giving an opportunity to discuss in person the issues that are most important to athletes. Of the 400 athletes, Hockin is the only swimmer at the Berlin World Cup who attended the International Athletes Forum.
That’s not to say swimming wasn’t well represented. Joining Hockin at the Forum were eight other swimmers*, including athlete commission members and aquatic legends Anthony Ervin (USA) and Ferry Weertman (NED). Hockin listened to the address by four-time Olympic swimmer Joanna Maranhao (BRA) on the topic of Integrity in Sports.
Hungarian Olympic Gold Medallist Daniel Gyurta, who was elected to the IOC Athletes Commission in 1996, was in Lausanne for the Forum. Gyurta serves as the Chief Ministerial Advisor of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and is responsible for donating swimwear and water polo caps to Ukrainian athletes. Support for Ukraine’s athletes was on their agenda as well.
Hockin's swimming journey is revealed in an October interview from Berlin.
Welcome back to Berlin for another Swimming World Cup event.
It's nice to be back in Berlin after my first World Cup in 2019. I'm only swimming at the first stop in Berlin because two weeks from now I will be racing in Santiago, Chile at the Pan American Games.
You are among the oldest, if not the oldest, swimmer in the Berlin World Cup.
I turned 37 on September 27th but it's always a pleasure to represent my country. I have lived in many places. I was born in Colombia. My dad is English and my mom is from Paraguay. Our family once lived in Spain before moving to England where my brother and I continued our love for swimming. I enrolled at Swansea University but only completed one year of ‘uni’ before our family moved permanently to Paraguay.
What do you recall from your first World Aquatics Championship?
I was a member of the British team at the 2007 World Championships in Melbourne. Our relay team finished 9th and it was a disappointment not to make the finals. The good news is that we qualified for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, but each of us still needed to be selected for the Olympic Team.
In 2008 I qualified for Team GB, a member of the swim team that would represent Great Britain at the Beijing Olympic Games. Fortunately and more than a year later, three of the four of us, myself included, qualified for the Olympic team.
Why makes the Pan American Games special for you?
I represented Paraguay in 2011 at my first Pan Am Games in Guadalajara, Mexico. I finished third and earned a bronze medal in the 200m freestyle behind Brett and Shaune Fraser, two brothers from the Cayman Islands. It was a great achievement and it remains my only swimming medal from the Pan Am Games. It is also the only medal won by a swimmer from Paraguay in the history of the Pan American Games. Even better is that my youngest brother Charles also competed at the 2011 Pan Am Games and he will be racing in Santiago at the end of this month. Charlie is 3 years younger than me and trains with me. We are both still loving the sport and trying to represent Paraguay in the best way we can.
You arrived in Berlin after a stop in Lausanne, the Olympic capital city.
Last week I attended the International Athletes Forum that included Athletes’ Commission members from 181 National Olympic Committees. I am currently the chair of the Athletes Commission for Paraguay. Also in Lausanne were athlete representatives from 54 International Federations, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the International Paralympic Committee, as well as the Organising Committees for the upcoming Olympic Games and the Continental Associations which were present in Lausanne for the two day forum. There were more that 400 athletes
As the new chairman of the Athlete Commission in my country this was a new experience for me. It was my first forum and I certainly learned a lot especially from other athletes, some active and some who are retired. I enjoyed the Question & Answer session with IOC President Thomas Bach. Some of these things I will be trying to implement in Paraguay including a program called Athlete 365.
Can you tell us a bit about your Olympic Games experience?
The London Games in 2012 was my second Olympics, but the first representing Paraguay. I was selected as the flagbearer for the Opening Ceremonies. I finished 32nd in the 100m free (50.12), 26th in the 200m free (1:48.91), and 36th in the 100m fly (53.65). I was invited to serve as the flagbearer for the Closing Ceremonies as well. In 2016 Rio I placed 44th in the 100m free (50.26). In Tokyo I finished in 44th place in the 100m freestyle (50.41) and in 51st place in the 100m butterfly (54.81).
Do you think about the Paris Olympic Games in 2024?
Our plan for 2023 is to take everything step by step. I checked off the World Championships in Fukuoka, and I am looking forward to racing in Berlin, however the Pan American Games are my main focus at the moment. Next year we start with the World Championships in Doha and begin to focus on the times necessary to qualify me for the Olympic Games. If I qualify for Paris I will be happy. If I don’t qualify, I will also be happy. Most of all I enjoy the process of preparing for each competition. I enjoy representing my country, and if I am not a Paris 2024 Olympian I will be representing my country in a different way, including as an athlete representative.
What events will you be swimming in Berlin and in Santiago?
At the World Cup I will be racing in my favorite events, the 50m and 100m free and in the 50m fly. At the Pan American Games I will be swimming the 50m free and the 50m and 100m freestyle events.
How do your times compare to your earlier years of your career?
In some events I am swimming the same times today as I did 10 years ago. In a sport like swimming, consistency is a key. As you get older, the time to recover is longer. The workload that i did when I was 20 is different from today. I make it a point to fully recover from one session to another but my training is about quality and not quantity.
Is it true that you founded the Ben Hockin Swim Club during Covid?
The idea for a club was something that I had in my mind for many years and then the pandemic affected all of us. We started the club when it was safe to do so, and I am very proud of our success. The team is a place for young swimmers, elite athletes including triathletes, and also for masters swimming. Jose Lobo not only coaches the swim club which I own and founded but he also coaches me, and he is an excellent swim coach. We are training at the Center Aquatico Nationale in a 50m that allows us to train all year round in Asuncion, the nation’s Capital. Our team is only three years old but we are one of the best in the country.
How did your family play a part in your success as a swimmer?
Yes, training with my younger brother is great. We are traveling the world together to compete in elite international events like the World Championships and the Pan Am Games is just fantastic. With me in Berlin is my wife Giuliettta Mora. We were married five years ago and we have a
lovely daughter named Sienna Vittoria. She is 2 years old and back home with our amazing parents. This is the first time she has been away from both of us, and we love her so much and we can’t wait to get home to see her again next Monday.
Swimmers Represented at the 2023 International Athletes Forum
- Jamie Yeung HKG 2020
- Anthony Ervin USA 2000 - 2016
- Ferry Weertman NED 2016 - 2020
- Dorina Szekeres HUN 2012
- Daniel Gyurta HUN 2004-2016
- Diego Castillo PAN 2012
- Sabine Hazboun PAL 2020
- Joanna Maranhao BRA 2004-2008-2012-2016
- Karen Torrez BOL 2012 - 2016 - 2020
- Inés Remersaro - URU 2012, 2016