Britain’s National Performance Director for Disability Swimming Tim Reddish MBE has been named Chairman for IPC Swimming.

A three-time Paralympian, Reddish has been involved in disability sport for more than 20 years and following medal-winning performances in Barcelona, Atlanta and Sydney, he was appointed British Performance Director in April 2003.

In 2004 Reddish led his swimmers to Paralympic success in Athens, claiming more medals in the pool (52) than any other nation, and in December 2006 he led the team to world honours, winning the World Championships with a total of 24 gold, 14 silver and 14 bronze medals.

In his voluntary role as IPC Swimming Chairman, Reddish will head up the IPC Swimming committee through to at least 2010, whilst continuing his employment with British Swimming.

“It’s interesting times for IPC and I’m looking forward to working with them on changes within the sport,” said Reddish. “My first challenge is to establish a swimming technical committee and appoint key people to help take the sport forwards.

“It’s a privilege to be appointed as IPC Swimming Chairman and I’m honoured. I hope I can use my knowledge, skills and expertise gained over years of being involved with swimming to benefit the sport internationally.

“I’d like to thank British Swimming and UK Sport for their continued support and encouragement for this role.”

British Paralympic Association (BPA) Chief Executive Phil Lane is delighted with Reddish’s appointment.

“It’s great news that Tim has been selected for this role, which is fantastic for Paralympic sport in the UK,” he said. “It’s fantastic to have a former British Paralympic athlete selected to chair the IPC Swimming Committee.”

“Tim has had tremendous success with the British Disability Swimming team and taken their performance to another level. We’re sure his expertise will also be valuable on a world stage.”

UK Sport Director of Performance Liz Nicholls congratulated Reddish on his additional role.

"Tim's appointment as the new chairman of IPC Swimming is excellent news for British Sport and a significant achievement for him personally," she said. “He has done a great job in recent years leading the British Disability Swimming world class programme gaining notable medal success at the 2004 Paralympics and finishing top of the medal table at the IPC World Championships at the end of 2006 and I am confident that Tim will make a positive impact as the new chairman of IPC Swimming.”

Britain’s top disability swimmers are next in action at the Visa Paralympic World Cup on Saturday 12 May at the Manchester Aquatics Centre. Athletes from more than 25 countries will converge on Manchester for the event, including 16 of Britain’s medallists from the 2006 IPC Swimming World Championships.

In 2006 Britain was the most successful nation in the pool with five gold, two silver and two bronze medals, but a change in the programme means none of the GB swimmers will be defending their titles.

However, 10 swimmers from last year’s competition are back this year, including World Champions Dave Roberts, Sascha Kindred and Natalie Jones. And newcomers Emma Cattle, Jonathan Fox and Matt Whorwood will also be looking to impress on their first World Cup outing.  

-ENDS-

For more information contact British Swimming media officer Amanda Smith on 01509 632238, 07876 652 318 or email amanda.smith@swimming.org

British Swimming is the National Governing Body for Swimming, Diving, Synchronised Swimming, Water Polo and Open Water in Great Britain.  It is responsible internationally for the high performance representation of the sport. The members of British Swimming are the three Home Countries national governing bodies of England (Amateur Swimming Association), Scotland (Scottish Amateur Swimming Association) and Wales. (Welsh Amateur Swimming Association)  British Swimming seeks to enable its athletes to achieve gold medal success at the Olympics, Paralympics, World Championships and Commonwealth Games.
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