FIVE WELSH SWIMMERS NOMINATED FOR BEIJING
ParalympicsGB today received nominations for thirty-six swimmers from British Swimming for the British team for the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games. The squad features five Welsh swimmers who all won medals in Athens four years ago. Indeed, between them, they managed to amass 11 medals.
Gold medallists David Roberts, Nyree Lewis and Gareth Duke have been nominated to travel to the Beijing Games with the goal of defending their titles and adding to their personal medal hauls.
Rhiannon Henry and Liz Johnson – who also featured on the podium in Greece – will also be aiming for medal honours once again.
Among the nominations are a further five English swimmers who are based at the High Performance Centre at the Wales National Pool in Swansea. They train under Welsh coach Billy Pye.
Pye was appointed by British Swimming as High Performance Coach in 2003. In that time, the former miner has built up the Disability Swimming High Performance Centre to be one of the best in Britain. He made the jump from coalface to poolside when the mines closed in 1986.
British Swimming National Performance Director Tim Reddish said: “The team has a good mix of youth and experience, with 45 per cent of the team potentially attending their first Paralympic Games. This is really pleasing because it will prove to be beneficial for all of our athletes, coaches and support staff,” Reddish said. “The average age of this squad is younger than the one that competed in Athens and this demonstrates that the systems and programmes that British Swimming have in place are working well.
“It’s pleasing to see that a number of records have fallen during the past two competitions. The priority is to break British records because this shows that as a nation we are improving but to see European and world records tumbling is a good indicator of where we are on the world stage.
“Our athletes and their coaches now need to focus upon their preparations for Beijing to continue improving and if they succeed in this I can see them being able to get in the hunt for medals at the Beijing Paralympic Games.”
ParalympicsGB Chief Executive Phil Lane, said: “Swimming has traditionally been one of the most successful Paralympic sports in terms of medals at previous Games. We are delighted to receive nominations for a squad of 36 athletes who we hope will continue this success in Beijing.
“The number of emerging youngsters that have been nominated for their first Paralympic Games is testament to how successfully British Swimming nurture and develop new talent but its also exciting to see so many established Paralympians returning to the ParalympicsGB squad to defend the titles won in Athens.”
The Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games opens on September 6 and closes on September 17. The swimming events at the Games take place at the National Aquatics Centre, also known as the Water Cube, from September 7 to 15.
Many of these swimmers will be in action next week at the Paralympic World Cup in Manchester, which should provide the British swimmers with the perfect preparation ahead of China.
At the Athens 2004 Paralympic Games, Britain finished second in the medal table with a total of 35 golds, 30 silver and 29 bronze medals. With competitive standards continually rising and the dominant Chinese team taking the home advantage ParalympicsGB recognises that the 2008 Paralympics will be one of its biggest challenges yet.
