Rebecca Adlington to lead the England Swimming team at the Commonwealth Games in India
The array of title winners already a part of the England Swimming squad has been joined by the double Olympic winner Rebecca Adlington. The champion is teamed with some of the strongest swimmers in the history of British swimming. These athletes include Stephanie Proud, who is the World University Games champion, Anne Bochmann and Daniel Sliwinski. The former has won the European titles four times, while the latter is the world junior gold medallist. The team is already to take over the field at Delhi in October, at the much awaited Commonwealth Games.
The Swimming team which will be sent out by the British Swimming Association is based on 45 talented swimmers. The main competition for the England swimming team will be offered by the Australian and Canadian team, while South African team’s swimmers have also improved on their timings significantly.
Rebecca Adlington was born in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England on the 17th of February 1989 and is popularly known as a British freestyle swimmer. To date, she has won two gold medals at the Summer Olympics of 2008 in the 400 metre and 800 metre freestyle events. At the Beijing Olympics, she managed to break the record of the 19 year old world record setter in the 800 metre final, Janet Evans. She was the first British swimmer to win 2 gold medals at the Olympic Games and is has been claimed the best Olympic swimmer from Great Britain in over 100 years.
Rebecca represented the swimming team from England in the Beijing Summer Olympics, she participated in the 400 metre, and 800 metre freestyle meets. She could not make it to the 4 into 200 metre freestyle relay for which she was scheduled at the 2008 Summer Olympics because her team failed to qualify for the event in the heats. For the heats of the 400 metre freestyle, Rebecca broke the record that was set in this event in the Commonwealth Games. She beat Katie Hoff from the United States in the 400 metre freestyle on the 11th of August 2008, in Beijing, in the last 20 metres of the race. After Anita Lonsbrough, she was the first English swimmer to win a gold medal in the Olympics. In the preliminary heats of the women’s 800 metre freestyle in the 2008 Summer Olympics, Adlington set new European, Commonwealth, British and Olympic records.
The Commonwealth Games this year are scheduled to start from the 4th of October in New Delhi, India. The event has faced much controversy in the near past because of the venues still being constructed. The New Zealand sports ministry will decide whether to send out their team to play in New Delhi according to the security conditions during that time. The whole process of the preparation of the Commonwealth Games has caused a huge drain on the finances of the government and the public. The prices of the construction raw material have increased significantly and this increase is causing trouble for the middle class public. The Indian government is facing a lot of criticism from the Indian people for hosting such a mega event when the security and economic conditions of the country are not very favourable.
Experts consider it an effort that the Indian administration has taken to make the country appear as a strong capable nation in the South Asian region. However, this endeavour is costing them their own people’s prosperity, since the preparation process has triggered uncontrolled inflation in the country. Some of the venues have been damaged by the heavy rainfalls of the monsoon season, while the rest are yet to be completed and tested for use at the Games.
On the other hand, the British swimming team is all ready and excited to play at the Commonwealth Games. Vigorous training and practising sessions are being held all over the country. The 45 swimmers of the England swimming squad are working hard so that they can survive the pressure that they will be under, while contending with the re-emerging Canadian swimming team and the talented Australian swimming team.
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