Britain’s push towards synchronised swimming success at the London 2012 Olympics will gather pace in Melbourne this week when three talented young athletes represent their nation at a World Championships for the first time in nearly 10 years.
Teenagers Olivia Allison, Jenna Randall and Lauren Smith, who all compete for the Rushmoor club, will provide British Synchronised Swimming National Performance Director Biz Price with a clear indication of where they are in their bid to be among the higher echelons of the sport in time for 2012.
Without exception, it’s the toughest competition of their lives to date but it’s an environment they will become familiar with between now and the London Olympics and this is something they’re excited about experiencing for the very first time.
For Price, who joined British Synchronised Swimming in January, the World Championships have come at a perfect time to measure the improvements of her squad gained from an intensive two-and-a-half months of increasing the athletes’ abilities in time to meet the rest of the world
“Jenna, Olivia and Lauren have worked tirelessly since January 1st to be here in Melbourne on the eve of the biggest event of their lives,” said Price.
“They’ve never competed in a competition like this before against older and more experienced athletes. It’s going to be a great learning process for them and one that will serve them well in the future.
“We just don’t know where they rank at the moment. It’s all been about guessing until they get in to compete on the world stage. This competition and their performance will provide a clear picture of where we are and what we need to do to move through the rankings.”
Not only will the World Championships provide the perfect chance to plot the athletes’ future development, it also gives them an opportunity to place themselves within the FINA world rankings which is vital if they are to achieve the aim of qualifying for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
“We’re trying to qualify the girls for the 2008 Olympics rankings,” explained Price. “Our aim is to put them in the top 24 but we’re hoping to get inside the top 22 although it’s a big ask for a group of first time athletes in this type of arena.
“The World Championships won’t qualify them for Beijing but it will give us our first standing on which to build as we go through the process of trying to secure Olympic qualification for Britain.
“The last time Britain was involved in a World Championships was back in 1998 and we need to get on the scoreboard to give ourselves a ranking – a starting point from which to build and improve.”
Melbourne won’t provide qualification for the 2008 Olympics but it will enable a strategy to be drawn and implemented with Beijing as the clear objective.
“The next step for the girls will be a qualification meet in Beijing of April of next year and they will have to finish top 24 in that to secure a spot,” said Price. “We’ve got a lot of work to do between now and then but they’ve worked tirelessly to put themselves in with a chance since the start of the year and we’re going to see that in Melbourne from Saturday.
“I’m hoping that by April of next year they will be inside the top 20 given the level of improvements we’ve seen so far. They have the potential and they could even rank as high as 16th but it’s going to take a great deal of effort and support to deliver that.
Britain will be in action from day one of the World Championships (Saturday 17th) in the solo and duet events.
And this World Championships will be different because in each event the technical and free aspects will be final in their own right with medals being awarded to winners of both aspects rather than combining them to give an overall position.
“It’s a little bit of a complication to see where the girls will rank in the world and we’ll have some serious calculations to do,” explained Price. “The added difficulty will be if nations decide to put, for example, one duet team into the technical and another into the free element.”
But Price is confident, if they can hold their nerve at the first time of asking, the British girls will do themselves justice given the levels of commitment and hard work displayed since her arrival.
“The girls are looking really good and have already had a lot of positive feedback from other nations around the training pool who’ve seen their improvements already,” said Price.
“These differences have been noticed by other nations but now we have to make sure they’re noticed by the judges when the competition starts.
“They’re feeling really positive about the whole environment. They’ve had some intensive preparation in Canada and here in Melbourne leading into the competition, and to be sharing the same water as the world champions and other leading nations is having a really good effect on the girls. We’re looking to the competition starting now.”
-ends-
The 12th FINA World Championships will take place from 17th March until 1st April 2007.
The British Sychro squad comprises:
Olivia Allison (Rushmoor)
Jenna Randall (Rushmoor)
Lauren Smith (Rushmoor)
Synchro takes place from 17th to 24th March
Diving takes place from 19th to 26th March.
Swimming takes place from 25th March to 1st April.
Open Water takes place from 18th to 25th March.
For further details contact Dave Richards, British Swimming Media Manager, on 01509 632237, 0778 992 6136 or email dave.richards@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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