Commonwealth Games – Australian swimmers to make impressive wins
The Australian swimming team was announced on Friday, the 27th of August, in Sydney to swim at the Commonwealth Games that would be taking place in Delhi in October. Seven swimmers were added to the list of the team.
The squad was formed in March and Melissa Gorman, Kenrick Monk, James Magnussen, Grace Loh, Mitchell Patterson, Kyle Richardson and Tessa Wallace were made a part of the Australian swimming team based on their performances in the recent Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in Irvine California.
In the Commonwealth Games scheduled from the 3rd to the 14th of October 2010, 31 members out of 52 will be participating in the Commonwealth Games for the first time.
Liesel Jones will be heading the Australian team in New Delhi. He has won 7 gold medals in the previous Commonwealth Games. Jones will be assisted by Geoff Huegill and Ashley Callus, who will be participating in their fourth Commonwealth Games this year in October.
Emily Seebohn has previously won gold and silver medals at the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in California. This is going to be her first participation in Commonwealth Games. On the other hand, the Paralympics champion Matthew Cowdrey has won 2 gold medals in the last Commonwealth Games that took place in Melbourne, Australia in 2006. He wishes to clinch more gold medals this year at the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi.
The head-coach of the team is Leigh Nugent. He told the correspondents that the Australian swimming team has a tradition of performing well at the Commonwealth and the team realises that there is a lot of responsibility on it. He also said that the team has been given a chance to compete at the beginning of the Games, which is good for the team’s performance. Moreover, he added that the team selected to represent Australia is a strong team formed by the combination of the best athletes of the country to compete in New Delhi this year.
Nugent said that the team will be arriving in New Delhi on the 30th of September before which the athletes will camp in Kuala Lumpur. He added that until then the team members will prepare and train hard for the competition.
At 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne Australia, the Australian swimming team managed to win a total of 53 medals which included 19 gold, 18 silver and 16 bronze medals.
On the other hand, the Australian swimmer Ryan Napoleon has been banned to play at the Games on the basis of failing a drug test. The swimmer was found to be taking a banned chemical known as formoterol since the 16th of November. FINA, the World swimming body has imposed a three-year ban on the 20-year-old athlete. However, Ryan did not know that this substance was banned, and he was taking this as a medicine for his asthma attack. FINA also admitted that the swimmer’s mistake was innocent but he should have known better.
Napoleon was selected to swim for the 400 metre and 1500 metre freestyle. He was indeed very depressed when the ban was imposed on him, since he really wanted to play at the Commonwealth Games.
He told the correspondents that it was extremely disappointing for him to have been banned from the competition, merely because of his arrogance.
Ryan Napolean further said that he admits that a mistake was made on his part in hearing about the drug that he consumed and he takes the responsibility of this mistake but FINA should show some leniency. The 20-year-old athlete also said that he will thoroughly get his medications checked the next time. The athlete has still not lost hope and said that he is confident that he will get through these bad circumstances and emerge as both a stronger person and a better swimmer.
Tags: