Top swimmer Corbett secures sponsorship deal with HTH

HTH will invest R500 000 annually to support the Commonwealth Games bronze medallist as she prepares for the Paris Games. Corbett says this partnership will ensure she can focus solely on swimming.

"It takes off some pressure financially from me, which is incredible. It also just means that I get to swim as hard as I can, train as hard as I can, and then also, hopefully, make my country proud in process of swimming, and in the process of training and then competing. 

It's really important to me to just live my dream and on top of that just fulfil my purpose and just use my talents to the best of my abilities", she told SABC Sport. 

HTH is one of South Africa's best-known chemical brands. And Corbett could not be more proud of this new partnership.

"Being part of the HTH family is incredibly humbling for me. It means that a brand, and a company as big as HTH, which has been around for a very long time in South African pools, has just picked me and brought into my dream. 

They're just financially are helping me towards my goals and they're helping me towards my dreams. So I can succeed in the next two years leading up to the Olympics and leading up to wherever I'm going in the next years". 

Corbett admits the financial climate in the country is even harder on athletes as they rely heavily on the corporate sector. 

"I think a lot of people in South Africa, not even just professional athletes, are under is incredible. So, it is tough because some of the businesses are struggling, and unfortunately, we as swimmers have to rely on the private sector to sustain us. 

That makes it very hard because to find funding for stuff like our nutrition, our training, our physio, and all our travelling it all comes out of our pocket, it doesn't necessarily come from the government", she confessed. 

Corbett has to balance professional swimming with her studies at the University of Pretoria, where she trains with the likes of Olympic gold medallist Tatjana Schoenmaker at the High-Performance Centre under the guidance of coach Rocco Meiring.

The 23-year-old has her sights on a podium finish in Paris 2024 and will use this year to refine her preparations.