Current and former stars of British swimming gathered for the Splash Awards in London last Saturday to celebrate achievements in the pool.
The Splash Awards 2007 were hosted by Martin Bayfield and welcomed a host of sports stars including Mark Foster, Steve Parry, Steve Cram, Mark Bright, Jamie Baulch and Richard Wright.
This year nine awards were presented to Britain’s top aquatic athletes, with World Championship medallists Liam Tancock (Loughborough University) and Kirsty Balfour (City of Edinburgh) taking the top honours of Male and Female Swimmer of the Year.
City of Liverpool swimmer Fran Halsall (17) collected the Young Swimmer of the Year award for the second year in the row after strong performances at all major international competitions in the past year. IPC World Champion James Crisp (City of Sheffield) picked up the EAD Swimmer of the Year award.
In the other aquatic disciplines Tandi Gerrard (City of Leeds) won Diver of the Year, Waterpolo Performance of the Year went to Ed Scott (City of Manchester Water Polo Club) and Synchronised Swimmer of the Year was collected by Jenna Randall for the second year running.
One of the highlights of the evening was the presentation of The Splash Star Award to Little Britain’s David Walliams for his epic swim across The English Channel in 2006 in aid of Sport Relief. On receiving his award from former World Record holder, Mark Foster, Walliams jibed of Foster’s favoured distance “50m freestyle?! I could swim that when I was five!”
The Lifetime Achievement Award this year was awarded to former World Champion and world record holder Adrian Moorhouse MBE. In the 1988 Seoul Olympics Moorhouse won the 100m breaststroke event to take gold for Great Britain and was awarded his MBE in 1992. He has since gone on to promote the sport of swimming through corporate speaking and his work with the BBC.
Kirsty Balfour also received her British Olympic Association’s 2006 Olympic Athlete of the Year Trophy for Aquatics at the event.
The British Swimming Board selected Kirsty for this award after her extremely successful 2006, where her performance at the European Championships (50m) helped Britain to the Top Team Trophy.
The Splash Awards were sponsored by Speedo and supported by British Swimming and the Amateur Swimming Association. Proceeds raised from the event will benefit the British Athletes Commission Benevolent Fund and SportsAid who have guaranteed that all funds raised will be used directly for swimming related projects.
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For further information please contact Jane Rackham at Fireball Management on 020 87044141 email jane@fireballmanagement.com or visit the official website: www.splashawards.com
Additional website resources: www.splashawards.com / www.fireballmanagement.com / www.sportsaid.org.uk
www.britishathletes.org/ www.speedo.co.uk
The Splash Awards were founded by Karen Pickering, Britain's most decorated female swimmer, who since her retirement has worked relentlessly to develop an awards show that celebrates the achievements and raises the profile of British swimmers and other aquatic sports men and women.
