PHOENIX, Arizona, November 29. IN just a few more days, Swimming World will announce the World Swimmers of the Year. But, first, here are the Pacific Rim Male and Female Swimmers of the Year.
Libby Lenton of Australia and Kosuke Kitajima of Japan continued their winning ways in 2007, giving them the confidence to perform well at next year's Olympics in Beijing as well as the Pacific Rim Swimmer of the Year titles.
Here are some excerpts of features on each swimmer:
LIBBY LENTON, Australia
Female Pacific Rim Swimmer of Year
Libby Lenton's smile is well-known throughout the swimming world. And the Australian sprinter has good reason to smile after being named Swimming World Magazine's Female Pacific Rim Swimmer of the Year.
"Winning awards like this and receiving acknowledgement from my peers and from Swimming World Magazine is very special," she said when told she won the award.
THE TOP FIVE
1. LIBBY LENTON, Australia
2. Leisel Jones, Australia
3. Jessicah Schipper, Australia
4. Reiko Nakamura, Japan
5. Ai Shibata, Japan
KOSUKE KITAJIMA, Japan
Male Pacific Rim Swimmer of the Year
What once was Australia's domain is now fair game for other countries that comprise the Pacific Rim. For the second year in a row and third time in the last five years, a non Australian swimmer was honored as Swimming World Magazine's Male Pacific Rim Swimmer of the Year. Since 1995, the first year the magazine presented the award, Australian swimmers have been honored nine times.
In the closest voting of all of the awards, Japan's Kosuke Kitajima edged last year's winner, Korea's Tae Hwan Park, by two points. Kitajima, who also won the award in 2003, picked up 12 of 20 first-place votes, while Park garnered the other eight.
THE TOP FIVE
1. KOSUKE KITAJIMA, Japan
2. Tae Hwan Park, Korea
3. Grant Hackett, Australia
4. Brenton Rickard, Australia
5. Ryuichi Shibata, Japan
5. Wu Peng, China
