Melissa Gorman becomes first Australian athlete to qualify for London 2012 Olympics
Melissa Gorman has recently become the first Australian athlete to qualify for the London 2012 Olympic Games. She has accomplished this task by getting herself the fourth spot at the FINA Swimming World Championships that were under way in Shanghai.
The event, which acted as the qualifying round for the Olympic Games next year, extended up to 10 km. The venue of the championship was the Jinshan City Beach.
Gorman, who is 25 years old, was in a leading position till the 7.5 km mark but could not maintain the lead in the final stages of the swim and was overtaken by other swimmers.
Gorman was swimming in waters where temperature was markedly different from what she is used to in Australian beaches. In order to cater to the high temperatures in Shanghai, Gorman had adorned ice vests to keep her body temperature low and made use of drinks
before the commencement of the event.
After Gorman finished fourth with a time of two hours, two minutes and .01 seconds, she expressed herself in the following words: "It was the toughest 10km race I have done in a long time. It was so hot and I really tried to get myself in a good position
from the start and gave everything from then. I was really starting to feel fatigued at the end but when an Olympic place is on the line you give your all."
The gold medal was obtained by the British Keri-Anne Payne.
According to the rules set by the International Swimming Federation, all athletes that achieve a top 10 positions in the World Championship have become eligible for the Olympic Games taking place in London.
However, Gorman has yet to undergo a formality before she officially qualifies for the London 2012 Olympics. This involves being selected by Swimming Australia, which will give Gorman’s name as a nominee to the Australian Olympic Committee.
In the event that Gorman clears the procedure, she will become the first among 430 athletes to be a part of the Australian delegation to the Olympics.
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