The butterfly effect HAZEL'S GOING FOR GOLD!

The pool star has overcome growing pains, shingles and bullies

- Catherine Milford

Hazel Ouwehand was destined for the water. “I was born in a birthing pool in Hamilton!” she laughs. “Mum was a learn-to-swim teacher too, so my sisters and I were always in the water when we were little.”

Hazel, 24, is in her fi nal weeks of training before heading to the Paris Olympics, where she’ll swim in the 100-metre butterfl y. It’s a specialist stroke that Hazel has thrown all her energy into since realising it was her best chance at getting to the all-important global sporting event.

“Growing up, my older sisters Holly [29] and Chelsea [27] and I did a lot of sports – gymnastics, athletics, cross-country – you name it!” grins Hazel. She and mum Ruth, 57, are chatting to the Weekly from the Auckland offi ce where she works as an accountant 25 hours a week to keep her, erm, afl oat while she chases her Olympic dream. “It got so busy, I had to keep dropping sports until it was just swimming. Then I had to drop backstroke and medley so I could put all my eff ort into butterfl y.”

The fact that Hazel’s reached the dizzy heights of world competitive swimming is impressive. At 1.93 metres, she has a powerful physique, but it caused a lot of misery when she was 12.