MANCHESTER, Great Britain, September 12. BILL Sweetenham coached Aussies to Olympic heights, and seems to have remembered how to get there, per press notes from the British ASA at the 2004 British Short Course Championships, August 26-29. <\/p>\n
As National Performance Director for the squad from Great Britain he promised two medals and the British Olympic Swimming team delivered the two Olympic medals.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Summing up his thoughts on the Athens Games Bill Sweetenham commented, \u201cThis was the most positive, enthusiastic, high spirited, best supported team I\u2019ve ever worked with. \u201c<\/p>\n
\u201cRealistically form indicated we had four medal chances going into the finals and we converted two. Not a bad ration but as you know I\u2019m always looking for more. We said we\u2019d deliver two and that\u2019s what the team did. Britain now has 52 swimmers ranked in the top 25 in the world. Previously this was 31. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe 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 program 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chairman of British Swimming Chris Baillieu was also upbeat about the success of the team. \u201cThe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe programs that Bill and our coaches have introduced have delivered results already even though realistically we believe the true effect won\u2019t be seen until Beijing. Four years is a short time to turn things around but now we\u2019re heading in the right direction and the momentum is moving us where we want to be. <\/p>\n
Statistics<\/b>\tAthens\tSydney\tAtlanta
\nNo. of Finalists\t16
\n11 Individual & 5 teams\t10
\n5 Individual & 5 teams\t8
\nNo. of Semi Finalists\t19 out of 23\t19 out of 27\tNon
\nEuropean Records\t1\t0\t0
\nCommonwealth Records\t4\t0\t0
\nBritish Records\t8\t10\t5
\nMedals\t2 Bronze\t0\t1 Bronze 1 Silver
\nAthens Performance Details
\nIndividuals
\nHeat swims\t29
\nSemi-finalists\t19 out of 23
\nFinalists\t11\t <\/p>\n
Teams
\nHeat swims\t5
\nFinalists\t5\t <\/p>\n
Records<\/b>
\nEuropean\t1500m Freestyle \tDavid Davies
\nCommonwealth\t200m Butterfly\tStephen Parry (x2)
\n \t200m Backstroke\tJames Goddard
\nBritish\t1500m Freestyle\tDavid Davies (x2)
\n \t200m Butterfly\tStephen Parry (x2)
\n\t200m Freestyle\tSimon Burnett
\n \t200m Backstroke\tJames Goddard
\n \t4x100m Medley\tSarah Price, Kristy Balfour,
\nGeorgina Lee, Melanie Marshall
\n \t4x100m Medley\tGregory Taut, James Gibson, James Hickman, Matthew Kidd
\n \t4x200m Freestyle\tSimon Burnett, Gavin Meadows, David O\u2019Brien, Ross Davenport
\nMedals
\nBronze\t2\tDavid Davies (1500 Freestyle)
\n \t \tStephen Parry (200 Butterfly)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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