SELECTION POLICIES TO SHAPE OLYMPIC SWIMMING SQUADS
British Swimming has announced the selection criteria for
three major meets that will determine the strength and the
shape of next year's squad bound for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
The policies put in place standards swimmers must meet to
gain selection to teams for December's European Championships
(25m) in Hungary, the European Championships (50m) from Holland
in March next year and the World Championships (25m) from
Manchester in April 2008.
These events will enhance their Olympic preparation ahead
of Beijing and the 2012 London games.
For National Performance Director Bill Sweetenham, these
events form part of an Olympic preparation that has been carefully
put in place following input from all areas of the swimming
programme.
"A lot of thought and discussion has gone into putting
in place policies that will benefit athletes, coaches, staff
and the programme in general, not just for Beijing 2008 but
for London 2012 also," explained Sweetenham.
"Swimmers ranked third and fourth in Britain will be
selected to compete at the European Championships (25m) in
December and this gives another level of swimmer the opportunity
to compete internationally.
"For many of the squad they'll be exposed to a new competitive
environment and this will be a real positive for their development."
Britain's highest ranked swimmers will spend the end of the
year in Australia as part of British Swimming's endless summer
programme. During this time they'll compete at the FINA World
Cup in Sydney as well as other selected events within Australia.
"The European Championships (50m) in March will feature
a handful of pre-selected Olympic swimmers together with the
British relay teams," said Sweetenham. "They'll
take the meet on the run by going in to Eindhoven, competing
and then departing straight away.
"It's imperative during an Olympic preparation not to
rest but to keep workloads at the right level so this is what
we'll do.
"Britain's swimmers will go into their Olympic trials
at the end of March before the first and second ranked swimmers
are selected to race at the World Short Course (25m) Championships
from Manchester in April next year."
To view the selection policies please visit <http://www.britishswimming.org/vsite/vcontent/page/custom/0,8510,5157-182580-199798-43100-270643-custom-item,00.html>
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