British Swimming awaits confirmation of Olympic Selection Policy from British Olympic Association
British Swimming is waiting for the confirmation of their 2012 London Olympic Selection Criteria from the British Olympic Association (BOA).
British Swimming had sent their selection standard along with the British Athletics to the BOA, where the Athletics association got their confirmation a month ago, but British Swimming is still waiting for their approval.
Performance director to the British Swimming, Michael Scott, expressed that the selection criteria for the Olympic Games will be almost the same as those which will be used for the 2011 Shanghai World Championships in July.
Scott said that with the same selection criteria, eleven Male and ten Female swimmers have qualified for the World Championships trials in the first attempt in March, at the 2011 British Gas Swimming Championships.
He also explained that like the last two years, the country’s national swimmers had faced each other in March at the National Aquatic Centre, to prove their eligibility to qualify in the national swimming team, which will head to the Home Olympics.
Scott said, “The process of setting the standards is longer because it is an Olympic selection policy and it has to go through a bit of sign off from the BOA. We have basically finished it internally but it needs their approval and I would envisage that in the next two to four weeks we would have that out.”
The performance director added that they use a two-time trial system to select athletes for the major world event. He explained that this system helps them in enhancing the level of sports and providing players with more opportunities, to secure their spots in the international swimming team. Scott also said this trial system also helps those swimmers to qualify in the next round, who miss the first trials due to reasons such as injury or poor health.
Scott added, “I am feeling the excitement of the Olympics, sometimes you scratch your head and wonder how we are going to go but you take things step by step.”
The Australian director said that they are waiting for a response from BOA and they will release their selection policy, as soon as it is approved from the British Olympic Association. He also added that the performances of their swimmers have remarkably improved during the training camp and now they expect more from their participants at the upcoming world stages.
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