The countdown to the London 2012 Olympics has finally reached two years and the British Aquatic disciplines are gearing up to perform on the biggest stage of their careers.

The sports have now reached the halfway point to London and are currently taking the steps to ensure they are the best prepared they can be when the Games begin on 27th July 2012.

In swimming, the last year has seen the emergence of young female talent hitting the international scene and making an instant impact. Gemma Spofforth, who finished fourth at the 2008 Olympics, was crowned World Champion in Rome alongside team-mates Liam Tancock and Keri-Anne Payne.

A number of younger talents also stepped up to be counted at the Rome World Championship and those names include Jaz Carlin, Fran Halsall and Lizzie Simmonds.

National Performance Director Michael Scott commented: “We will continue to strive to provide our swimmers and coaches with the best possible daily training environment for them to achieve their goals in benchmark competitions over this two year period.”

This year has also seen the strength of Britain’s junior swimmers after they excelled at the European Junior Swimming Championships. The team, powered by British Gas, returned from Helsinki with a haul of 15 medals – five of which were gold.

Team Manager Ian Wilson commented on the medal haul: “If the swimmers on this year’s team continue to train hard, improve their skills and make steady improvements, then they could transfer to the Senior Team over the next few years.”

The last two years has seen British Diving take on a new National Performance Director (NPD) as they build towards taking on the world in front of the home crowd.

NPD Alexei Evangulov began working for British Diving in 2008 and quickly established his four-year plan for the sport. The last two years has seen the sport begin to enjoy the fruits of Evangulov’s hard work with gold at the 2009 World Championships for Tom Daley and improvements at the 2010 World Cup. The divers achieved three top eight finishes in Synchro events and two top 12 finishes in Individual events.

The junior athletes also showed their skills this year with the best performance at a European Junior Diving Championships in the sport’s history. The Team, powered by British Gas, won seven medals in total with four golds showing the talent that is coming up through the ranks of British Diving.

Team Leader Julian Bellan commented: “The 2010 results including four gold medals, are without question the best junior results at European level ever. The good results can’t be attributed to just one factor, but the depth of diving talent that is driving up the standards coupled with a confidence and self-belief both in the coaching team and divers is undoutably key.”

British Synchro has been under the leadership of world class coach Biz Price for three years and she has been credited with taking the sport back into the public eye. In her career history she has worked with top Synchro nations like Spain and China and now leads the British athletes as they aim to prove their place in Olympic history.

The last World Championships saw the Duet of Olivia Allison and Jenna Randall rise through the world rankings by ten places from the 2007 World Championships. The athletes also reached the final of the team event for the first time since 1994.

Price’s charges also won their first international medal at the German Open with the Duet and the Solo achieving podium status. The next focus for the team as they take the next steps to London 2012 are the European Championships, the FINA World Cup and the Commonwealth Games.

As the sport of Water Polo is preparing for the London 2012 Olympics they are moving past their funding blow and have found innovative ways to ensure that the athletes are still able to access training.

The last year has seen the athletes work hard to prove they have what it takes to compete on a world stage and the women’s team came away from the 2009 LEN European ‘B’ Nations Trophy as Champions. This year the women’s team took on the might of Germany and Italy and overcame them with victories for the first time in many years.

Moving forward the women’s team will begin playing in the first division in Hungary which will provide them with more exposure to higher level Water Polo.

In 2009 the men’s team experienced their best ever result at the LEN European ‘B’ Nations Trophy with their fourth place finish in Lugano, Switzerland. With fresh players added to the squad the team looks set to keep improving and with a number of players moving abroad to compete with professional clubs the athletes will be fighting for their place on the Olympic squad.

Stay up to date with progress and plan your Games by visiting www.london2012.com.

There are plenty of ways to get involved, start planning your Games today!




Published:
09:36:30 27.07.2010 by John Bolton