Britain’s swimmers converge on Sheffield this week as the final few places on the plane to the far east and the World Championships of Shanghai are decided. Quite apart from the honour of representing your country, those who make the trip will be giving their Olympic hopes a boost.
Continue Reading →Yearly Archives: 2011
Opinion: BOA must treat swimming equally
Given the huge interest generated and the finite number of tickets available, obtaining a seat to watch the swimming at the London 2012 Olympics was always likely to be a challenge. Probably though, few people were expecting quite how difficult it seems to have been, not least the prospective competitors.
Continue Reading →Fingers apart for bigger hands
It’s often one of the first things children are taught when learning to swim: keep your fingers together and make your hand like a paddle. When the alternative in a beginner is fingers splayed wide apart this can be a sensible approach, but when a greater degree of proficiency is reached and swimmers seek every possible technical advantage from their stroke, is it still valid?
Continue Reading →Britain’s men sprinting to stand still
The relative weakness of Britain’s men’s sprint programme over the last ten years has been a running theme but here we find ourselves in 2011, a pre-Olympic year with a world championships looming and nothing having really changed.
Continue Reading →Britain’s 4×200 challenge
Since winning the world title in 2001, Britain’s 4x200m freestyle relay team has been seen as one of the national team’s greatest strengths, but is it as strong as we think? And can it challenge in Shanghai?
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