SPARKES EXCITED AT LONDON 2012 PROSPECTS
British Swimming Chief Executive David Sparkes has spoken
of his delight at London's successful bid to stage the 2012
Olympic Games.
Speaking at the 117th IOC Session in Singapore, where members
voted to award the Olympic Games to London, Sparkes paid tribute
to the efforts of the London 2012 team in securing the greatest
show on earth.
"This will provide tremendous impetus for swimming in
Great Britain," explained Sparkes who is in Singapore
as part of the 2012 delegation. "The work on constructing
the Olympic pool in Stratford will start immediately and good
progress has already been made on the design which is absolutely
stunning and world class."
The announcement of a London victory provides a real boost
to British Swimming which has been implementing plans to ensure
Britain's swimmers, divers, water polo players and synchronised
swimmers are ready to challenge for medals come 2012.
"For a long time our plans have been based around the
success of winning the Olympic Games for London and we shall
be pulling out all of the stops to make sure we're ranked
in the top three swimming nations in the world."
Sparkes is excited about the prospects the governing body
faces in working with the Government to secure help for Britain's
other aquatic disciplines.
"It will provide a massive opportunity for our divers
and we'll be calling on Government for additional funding
to support our water polo and synchronised swimming programmes
to ensure they can compete with distinction in London in front
of a home crowd.
"Great Britain won the first ever water polo medal and
we need to make sure, in bringing water polo back home to
its roots, we have the best chance of achieving the same kind
of success.
"Synchronised swimming has struggled over the years
through lack of funding but what an opportunity 2012 provides
for a British team to challenge the world for medals again
which it has done in the past.
"It is a great day for London and a great day for sport.
This is destined to become a catalyst for sport and swimming
to move forward in Great Britain."
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