US Open Short Course - Results Day 3

Auburn: last day of the US open meet included two new meet records.  Women 800 free 1, Janelle Atkinson 8:29.33, 2, Magda Dyskiewica 8:32.90, 3, Meredith Green 8:36.72 100 free 1, Christina Swindle 54.89, 2, Kim Vandenberg 55.39, 3, Suzy Catterson 55.41 200 breast 1, Megan Quann 2:26.16, 2, Katie McClelland 2:28.09, 3, Kristen Caverly 2:29.52 200 fly 1, Jamie Reid, Puyallup 2:10.21, 2, Whitney Myers 2:12.57, 3, Jessica Brosch 2:12.62 Men 100 free 1, Michael Picotte 48.51 US OPEN RECORD 2, Herman Louw 49.25, 3, Rainer Kendrick 49.71 200 breast 1, Ed Moses 2:11.22, 2, Vladislav Poliakov 2:13.51, 3, Justin Caron 2:15.12 200 fly 1, Greg Reeves, 1:58.01, 2, Honza Vitazka 1:58.61, 3, Jeff Somensatto 2:01.38 1500 free 1, Robert Margalis, 15:03.04 US OPEN RECORD 2, Ricardo Monasterio 15:11.53, 3, Brendan Neligan 15:12.14 Full results from the meet is available by clicking here

US Open Short Course - Results Day 2

Friday's results from Auburn at the 2000 U.S. Open: Men  400 medley 1. Robert Margalis 4:15.70, 2. Istvan Bathazi (Hun) 4:17.53, 3. Kevin Clements 4:19.58 100 back 1. Andrew Davidson 0:54.43, 2. Honza Vitazka (Czech Rep,) 0:54.64, 3. Kirk Hampleman 0:55.46 100 fly 1. Zsolt Gaspar (Hun) 0:54.10, 2. Chuy Gonzalez 0:54.32, 3. Oswaldo Quevedo (Ven) 0:54.47 200 free 1. Michael Kiedel (Ger) 1:48.18, 2. Honza Vitazka (Czech Rep.) 1:48.49, 3. Robert Margalis 1:48.73 Women 100 back 1. Nicole Mackey 1:00.51, 2. Jamie Reid 1:00.59, 3. Suzy Catterson 1:02.08 200 free 1. Rachel Komisarz 1:59.75, 2. Magda Dyszkiewica 2:00.37, 3. Gyongyver Lakos 2:00.62 100 fly 1. Rachel Komisarz 0:59.34, 2. Kim Vandenberg 1:00.00, 3. Sarah Wanezek 1:01.16 400 medley 1. Maggie Bowen 4:38.82, 2. Kristen Caverly 4:39.54, 3. Nicole Mackey 4:44.33

Van Almsick set to continue

German swimmer Franziska Van Almsick is all set to continue her swimming career after quoshing rumours that she would quit the sport. Her main goal is to qualify for the World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan in July 2001 by swimming well at the German Trials next June. She will not compete much at all during the next few months.

Swedish European Short Course Team

Sweden have announced the following team for the European Short Course Championships in Valencia: Women: Therese Alshammar free/relay, Johanna Sjöberg fly/free/relay, Anna Karin Kammerling fly/free/relay, Emma Igelström breast/relay, Camilla Johansson back/relay, Sara Nordenstam IM/breast, Ida Mattsson free/relay, Ann Berglund IM/free, Annica Löfstedt free. Men: Lars Frölander free/fly/relay, Stefan Nystrand free/relay, Martin Gustavsson breast/relay, Jens Johansson breast/relay, Daniel Lönnberg back/relay, Joakim Dahl fly/free/relay, Klas Andersson relay. Some of the best results from the Trials included: 100 butterfly men Joakim Dahl 52.89; 100m free women Johanna Sjöberg 54.66; 100 back women Camilla Johansson 1.01.90; 200m breast women Emma Igelström 2.28.03; 50m free men Stefan Nystrand 22.72 Claes Andersson 22.80; 50m fly women A.K. Kammerling 26.18 Johanna Sjöberg 27.01; 100m free Joakim Dahl 50.37; 50m breast men Martin Gustavsson 28.56 J. Johansson 28.79; 100m breast women Emma Igelström 1.09.20; 100 fly women Johanna Sjöberg 58.95 AK Kammerling 1.00.54; 200m IM women Sara Nordenstam 2.14.82; 200m breaststroke Martin Gustavsson 2.10.63; 50m free women Johanna Sjöberg 25.36 AK Kammerling 25.60 400m IM women Sara Nordenstam 4.43.19. Froelander and Alshammar didn't take part at the Trials as they were pre-selected for Valencia.

Swedish European Short Course Trials

The Swedish Trials for the upcoming European Short Course Championships commence in Malmö today. Pre-selected are: Therese Alshammar, Anna-Karin Kammerling, Johanna Sjöberg, Lars Frölander, Stefan Nystrand and Martin Gustavsson.

Italian Grand Prix - Naples

Some impressive times were posted at the above meet recently. These included victories by Lars Frolander in the 100 free (47.79) and 100 fly (51.89), Massi Rosolino 200 free (1:45.36) and 200 IM (1:59.73), Roman Sloudnov 100 breast (59.65), Gordan Kozulj 200 back (1:56.12), Therese Alshammar 100 free (54.77), Sandra Volker 100 back (1:00.57). In the mens 100 free, Britain's Mark Foster finished third in 51.66.

Stavanger International Meet

Brief results of last week's International Meeting in Stavanger. Top female performance of the meet was recorded by American Jenny Thompson with 26.50 for the 50 Butterfly, while best male swim was the 22.13 by Dutchman Mark Veens for 50 Freestyle.

Susie O'Neill announces her retirement

Dual Olympic gold medallist Susie O'Neill announced her retirement from competitive swimming today. The 200 butterfly world record holder, O'Neill, 27, took her Olympic medal tally to eight by collecting one gold and three silvers at the Sydney Games in September. Dubbed Madame Butterfly, O'Neill had hinted strongly at retirement after her shock Olympic 200 butterfly loss to American Misty Hyman but made it official today.  O'Neill's silver in the 4x100 medley relay on the last day of Olympic competition put her level with legendary fellow Australian Dawn Fraser's Olympic medal total. O'Neill has two gold, four silver and two bronze to Fraser's four gold and four silver. 

ASCA calls for action over ISHOF inclusion of East German swimmers

If you would like to see the 15 former East German Athletes who are in the international swimming hall of fame removed from the ISHOF, now that it has been proven in German court that each and every one of them were doped atthe time of their swimming career, withhold your membership dues from the ISHOF, and let ISHOF know that you will continue to do so, until ISHOF assumes the moral responsibility of only honoring the clean athletes in our sport. Thank you for your consideration of this action to end the honoring of cheaters at ISHOF. FINA, its medals, honors, etc. may be inpregnable, but ISHOF belongs to the people in the sport. John Leonard - American Swimming Coaches Association

New National Performance Director about to start

In a few days time, Britain's new National Performance Director Bill Sweetenham commences his post. Coaches and swimmers across the land are eagerly awaiting his ideas and plans of how to move swimming in this country forward from its current low ebb. The BSCTA has been particularly encouraged by preliminary discussions with Sweetenham that suggested he is very keen to work closely with coaches and involve the association much more in processes such as coach selection for representative teams. We wish Bill all the very best in his new role.

Legg in illness concern

Karen Legg was unable to participate in the 4 x 100 Freestyle relay Saturday due to a sudden bout of sickness. Although now recovering after having been out of the water for two days, it is still uncertain whether she will take her place in the 200 and 4 x 200 Freestyle events.

Huddart claims first place in 200 relay swim-off

Claire Huddart took first place in yesterday's swim-off for the Womens 4 x 200 Freestyle relay with a time of 2:02.0. Janine Belton placed second in 2:02.7 with Vicky Horner third in 2:02.8. Huddart will now certainly swim the heats of this relay on Wednesday while Belton must still wait until team staff decide whether to rest Karen Pickering or Karen Legg from the heats. If one of the Karen's is rested, Belton will get at least a heat swim. Alternatively, if selectors consider that the strongest possible team must contest the heats in order to make the final, Belton will unfortunately be left out.

Edwards slams British swimmers

Triple jump world record holder Jonathan Edwards has labeled British swimmers as 'awful' in a recent report on his website. Edwards suggested that 90% of the British swimmers have no chance of a medal and are only at the Games for fun. He goes on to claim that once British swimmers have completed their events they go into wild partying mode for the duration on the Games and that he may have to leave the village if they make too much noise. The news is likely to anger the British swimming squad who are arguably the best ever prepared team Great Britain has ever sent to a major championships.

BSCTA site wins Gold M-SWIM Internet Award

The BSCTA website has been awarded the prestigious Gold M-SWIM Internet Award for September 2000. The M-SWIM awards are given out to swimming related sites for excellence in the promotion and reporting of the sport. After less than 2 months on the web, this award is an excellent achievement for the site which has rapidly become one of the leading swimming sites in the United Kingdom. Visit the M-SWIM site for a wide range of swimming information including the most comprehensive list of results from the UK.

Study claims bodysuits don't work

A recently published research study has concluded that bodysuits have very little or no effect on swimming performance. The study, conducted by the Human Performance Labs at Indiana University, Bloomington, USA examined the results of this year's US Olympic Trials. Analysing results from the trials since 1968 allowed a prediction to be made for the results in 2000. A comparison of the actual results and the predicted times revealed that all but two individual events were statistically insignificant. If bodysuits work to the extent of claims made by manufacturers and anecdotal evidence, the difference between actual and predicted times should have been much greater. Full details of the study can be found here.

GB Olympic Relays - Who will get to swim?

GB has taken 6 swimmers to Sydney for each freestyle relay and included some alternates for medley relay swims. With this many swimmers, questions obviously arise as to which 4 will actually get to swim the heats and will any changes be made should the team qualify for the final? It is highly likely that swim-offs will be required for some if not all the relays to establish if form has changed at all since the Trials. This could well be possible given how close results were at the Trials (e.g. all 8 swimmers in the mens 100 free final were separated by less than half a second). Robert Greenwood and Neil Willey may be called upon to swim the heats of the medley relay and then step down for the final as they are not the fastest over their events. This would allow a swimmer like James Hickman to rest having already swum numerous individual races by that time. Selectors will have to make decisions whether to rest other swimmers such as Sue Rolph as racing strategies come into play. However, the opposition will be very strong and each relay must be sure of having a good enough heat swim to make the final. This should not be too difficult for the mens 4 x 200 team which is ranked very highly and could well be Britain's best chance of a medal in the swimming events. On the other hand, the 4 x 100 team faces a much sterner task and the heats are likely to contain the fastest possible quartet. The womens freestyle teams are also well ranked but any mistakes or one slightly off form swim could easily cost them a final slot. More news to follow on this in due course.

US Swimming Announces Games Team

US Swimming has formally announced its team for the 2000 Olympics. 48 swimmers, 8 coaches and 15 support staff will travel to Sydney for one of the most eagerly anticipated swim meets of all time. The USA team will start as favourites to top the medal table although a closely fought battle with home team Australia is expected. Boasting stars such as Tom Dolan, Jenny Thompsen, Dara Torres, Gary Hall Jnr, Ed Moses, Kristy Kowal, Brooke Bennett, Josh Davis, Nail Walker and Chad Carvin, medals do not look too hard to come by for what must be one of the strongest teams ever assembled.

Sellwood and Jones added to GB Olympic Staff

Nick Sellwood and Tim Jones have been added to the Great Britain staff for the Olympic Games swimming team following approval of their accreditation by the BOA. This action comes on the back of the expression of serious concerns and letters sent by the BSCTA after Gary Vandermeulen ( a foreign coach working in Canada) was appointed to the team staff on the basis that he coaches a serious medal contender in Alison Sheppard. Gary will remain on the team that is now strengthened by the inclusion of Sellwood and Jones, who it can be argued statistically, coach just as good if not better medal hopefuls in Adam Whitehead and Jamie Salter. Whitehead goes in the 100 and 200 Breaststroke with Salter in the 200, 400 and 4 x 200 Freestyle events.

BSCTA Past President suffers stroke

BSCTA Past President and Fellow, Charlie Wilson has suffered a stroke. Thankfully, Charlie is expected to make a full recovery. Formerly coach to Brian Brinkley and the mentor to 100's of Britain's coaches, Charlie is still heavily involved in the development of the sport in this country, being one of the driving forces in the ASA's revision of the competitive programme for age group swimmers. All of the BSCTA's thoughts are with Charlie, and we wish him a speedy recovery.

BSCTA express concerns over GB Olympic Team staff selections

The British Swimming Coaches & Teachers Association has expressed 'grave concerns' over the selection of a foreign coach to the team staff for the Team GB Olympic Swim Team. Gary Vandermeulen, the husband and coach to medal hopeful Alison Sheppard was selected to give Alsion every possible chance in her quest to win a medal in the 50 Freestyle at the Games. Gary and Alison live and train in Canada and the BSCTA are concerned that various British coaches of medal hopefuls have been displaced in favour of Gary.

Don-Duncan drugs ban lifted

British 200m Backstroke record holder Helen Don-Duncan (Ashton Central) has been given the all clear by the British Olympic Association (BOA) to compete in this year's Sydney Games. Don-Duncan, who won the 200 Backstroke at last week's Trials in a new British record time of 2:11.25 to rank fifth on the world list, recently committed a doping offence by inhaling the drug flixotide. However, the BOA have lifted their automatic life ban from the Olympics on the grounds that the it was a minor offence with the drug being taken for asthmatic reasons and not to enhance performance.

BOA delays announcement of British Olympic swim team

PRESS STATEMENT BY THE BOA - 1st August 2000 The ratification process for the swimmers in Team GB has not yet been concluded. The British Olympic Association (BOA) is still awaiting answers on certain paperwork. In order to make a cohesive announcement the BOA will delay the release of the swimmers in Team GB until Monday August 7. The BSCTA website will post any further announcements on this matter in due course.

7 medals for Britain at European Junior Championships

British swimmers returned from the European Junior Championships in Dunkerque, France today with a 7 medal haul. Congratulations to the following swimmers and their coaches: 4 Silver Medals James Goddard 200m Individual Medley 2.06.73, Men’s 4x100m Freestyle Relay (Chris Cozens, Seth Chappels, Matthew Bowe, Robin Francis), Kirsty Balfour 100m Breaststroke 1.11.35, Women’s 4x100m Medley Relay (Louise Coull, Kirsty Balfour, Gemma Howells, Lisa Chapman) 3 Bronze Medals David O’Brien 200m Backstroke 2.03.25, Louise Coull 200m Backstroke 2.17.14, Kirsty Balfour 50m Breaststroke 33.33

41 swimmers receive Olympic nominations

After the final session of the Olympic Selection Trials at Ponds Forge Pool in Sheffield 41 swimmers were nominated by the Amateur Swimming Federation of Great Britain for Olympic selection. The British Olympic Association is due to announce the final selection of Team GB swimmers on Tuesday 1st August. National Performance Director and Olympic Head Coach Derek Snelling commented, “A magnificent week, outstripping all our expectations. The number of athletes who qualified for the Olympics was beyond any of our predictions or expectations. One of our greatest strengths in Sydney is going to be our relays.”

Records tumble at British Olympic Trials

Numerous records were broken at the British Olympic Swimming Trials that concluded Sunday 30th July 2000. The new marks are listed below: 2 Commonwealth Records Alison Sheppard 50 freestyle semi-final 25.16, Alison Sheppard 50 freestyle final 25.12  9 British Records Heidi Earp 100m Breaststroke semi-final 1.09.92, Sarah Price 100m Backstroke semi-final 1.01.93, Katy Sexton 100m backstroke final 1.01.80, Helen Don-Duncan 200m Backstroke semi-final 2.11.73, Helen Don-Duncan 200m Backstroke final 2.11.25, Simon Militis 400m Individual Medley final 4.20.07, James Hickman 100m Butterlfy final 52.87 (Equal British Record), Darren Mew 50 Breast stroke semi-final 28.31, Zoe Cray 50m Backstroke final 29.82  2 British Junior Records Vicky Cook 50m freestyle semi-final 26.39, Vicky Cook 50m freestyle final 26.12

Statement by Mike Peyrebrune

Former ASA Director of Swimming Mike Peyrebrune has successfully appealed against his without notice dismissal by the Amateur Swimming Association in December 1999.

De Bruijn continues to shine

Inge De Bruijn continued her fantastic season to date when setting a new USA Open record in the 100 Freestyle following a time of 54.01 at the Senior Long Course Championships in Federal Way. Her time was only 0.21 outside her world record set in Sheffield in May and bettered the previous USA Open record set by Jenny Thopmson at 54.27 just 7 days previously. The womens 100 Freestyle is gearing up to be one of the most eagerly anticipated events at the Sydney Olympics with these two girls likely to be joined by Therese Alshammar, Ante Buschulte, Dara Torres, Sandra Volker and our own Sue Rolph in the best field of all time.

Selected results from Telstra Grand Prix, Brisbane, Australia

One or two surprisingly slow performances at this meet:   MALE - 100 Free (1) CALLUS 50.94 (2) FYDLER 51.21 (3) KLIM 51.22 (4)THORPE 51.43 (7) DUNNE 52.22; 100 Back WELSH 56.20; 400 Free (1) THORPE 3:51.20 (2) HACKETT 3:52.22; FEMALE - 200 Free O'NEILL 2:00.82; 100 Breast (1) JONES 1:09.36 (3) BROWN 1:10.56; 100 Fly O'NEILL 1:00.47; 50 Free (1) RYAN 26.57 (4) CREEDY 27.01; 800 Free LEWIS 8:46.34.

ASFGB offers prize money for Olympic medals

The Amateur Swimming Federation of Great Britain today announced that it will be offering cash prizes to any swimmer who wins medals of any kind at the Sydney Games in September. Gold medallists will receive £10000, silver winners £5000 and a bronze will be worth £2500.  The announcement heralds the first time a swimming governing body in the UK has offered cash for medals. 'Every British swimmer strives to achieve Olympic greatness, for a place in Olympic history and above all for their country,' said David Sparks, chief executive of the ASFGB. 'The ASFGB would like to acknowledge such achievement financially to help support them in their future swimming career.' The news will be a welcome boost for the Olympic hopefuls for next week's Trials starting Tuesday 25th July. 

Perkins and Kowalski injury setbacks

Both Kieran Perkins and Daniel Kowalski are currently struggling with injuries just eight weeks out from the Olympic Games. Perkins has not trained on freestyle for 7 days after spraining a vertebral joint while Kowalski is suffering a recurrence of a previous shoulder injury. In Sydney, Perkins will attempt to become the first man ever to win three successive Olympic 1500m Freestyle titles, while Kowalski goes in Australia's hotly tipped for gold Mens 4 x 200 Freestyle relay.

Bodysuit ban lifted for US Trials

USA Swimming today reversed its decision to ban full length bodysuits from its Olympic Trials next month after coming under increasing pressure from the suit manufacturers. Both Speedo and Adidas have guaranteed that every swimmer who wants a full body suit will have one for the Trials while TYR had threatened a law suit against USA Swimming for restraint of trade. The debate over the controversial use of bodysuits in the sport looks set to rage on however, with Forbes Carlile set to propose a 1 year moratorium on bodysuits at the FINA Congress on September 14th, just 2 days before swimming events at the Games get underway. There is a strong body of opinion purporting to the view that bodysuits have not been subject to sufficient independent testing procedures to determine if they actually enhance performance through speed and buoyancy advantages. However, this will be little comfort to the many British swimmers who are facing performances at next week's Trials without being able to use or ever having had access to most of the bodysuits that have been developed. 

BSCTA Website uploaded to net

The BSCTA's website was today uploaded to the internet. Although still in its formative stages with much work yet to be done, the site is now usable and should provide coaches and other interested parties with a reliable swimming resource. The site includes coaching profiles, BSCTA structure, membership information and history, a swimming news service, calendar and articles of various interest to swimming coaches.

7 days to GB Olympic Trials

Expectation is rising with the Great Britain Olympic Trials now just 7 days away. As swimmers enter their final phase of preparations for this do or die event, inevitable speculation is mounting amongst fans regarding how the results will pan out. The rest of the world has been performing great so far this year but now it is time for British swimmers to through their hat in the ring and show exactly what they are made of. The strongest challenges for Olympic berths will again come from the country's leading teams: University of Bath, City of Leeds, Portsmouth Northsea, Stockport Metro, City of Coventry, City of Edinburgh, Loughborough University and Nova Centurion. However, other clubs will obviously fancy their own chances as well.