27th August 2004
The British Olympic Swimming team delivered the two Olympic medals that National Performance Director Bill Sweetenham had promised.
In addition to the two bronze medals from Steve Parry (200m butterfly) and David Davies (1500m freestyle), the team also produced one European Record, 3 Commonwealth Records, 9 British Records, 16 Finalists and 19 Semi-finalists. This is a vast improvement with three times more finals and records than Sydney where the team only had five finalists.
Summing up his thoughts on the Athens Games Bill Sweetenham commented, “This was the most positive, enthusiastic, high spirited, best supported team I’ve ever worked with. “
“Realistically form indicated we had four medal chances going into the finals and we converted two. Not a bad ration but as you know I’m always looking for more. We said we’d deliver two and that’s what the team did. Britain now has 52 swimmers ranked in the top 25 in the world. Previously this was 31.
“The challenge now is to convert those rankings into medals. The key to this will be strengthening the knowledge and experience of our coaches, giving our athletes more opportunity to train in the same conditions, as they will compete i.e. 50m pools and the early identification and development of talent, which our Smart-Track programme has already begun. Many other nations who have been in this position in the past have not been able to take this final step. With commitment from all involved we can do it.”
Chairman of British Swimming Chris Baillieu was also upbeat about the success of the team. “The last four years have been the most successful for British Swimming ever. With these results the Sydney ghost has well and truly been resigned to history and things look good for the future.”
“The programmes that Bill and our coaches have introduced have delivered results already even though realistically we believe the true effect won’t be seen until Beiijing. Four years is a short time to turn things around but now we’re heading in the right direction and the momentum is moving us where we want to be.
“I’m delighted for Steven and David and I’m sure their success will inspire our swimmers to achieve even more in the future.”
Statistics |
Athens |
Sydney |
Atlanta |
|
No. of Finalists |
16
11 Individual & 5 teams |
10
5 Individual & 5 teams |
8 |
|
No. of Semi Finalists |
19 out of 23 |
19 out of 27 |
Non |
|
European Records |
1 |
0 |
0 |
|
Commonwealth Records |
4 |
0 |
0 |
|
British Records |
8 |
10 |
5 |
|
Medals |
2 Bronze |
0 |
1 Bronze 1 Silver |
Athens Performance Details |
|
Individuals |
|
|
|
Heat swims |
29 |
|
|
Semi-finalists |
19 out of 23 |
|
|
Finalists |
11 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Teams |
|
|
|
Heat swims |
5 |
|
|
Finalists |
5 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Records |
|
|
|
European |
1500m Freestyle |
David Davies |
|
Commonwealth |
200m Butterfly |
Stephen Parry (x2) |
|
|
200m Backstroke |
James Goddard |
|
British |
1500m Freestyle |
David Davies (x2) |
|
|
200m Butterfly |
Stephen Parry (x2) |
|
200m Freestyle |
Simon Burnett |
|
|
200m Backstroke |
James Goddard |
|
|
4x100m Medley |
Sarah Price, Kirsty Balfour,
Georgina Lee, Melanie Marshall |
|
|
4x100m Medley |
Gregor Tait, James Gibson, James Hickman, Matthew Kidd |
|
|
4x200m Freestyle |
Simon Burnett, Gavin Meadows, David O’Brien, Ross Davenport |
|
Medals |
|
|
|
Bronze |
2 |
David Davies (1500 Freestyle) |
|
|
|
Stephen Parry (200 Butterfly) |
-ENDS-
For more information contact: Katie Brazier on 07770 965 122 or email katie.brazier@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.
