COACH BELIEVES NEXT STEPHANIE RICE MAY BE SWIMMING IN MELBOURNE
Melbourne, September 19: Australia's National Head Coach Alan Thompson believes the country's next Stephanie Rice or Eamon Sullivan may be swimming at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre when the Telstra Australian Short Course Championships get underway tomorrow.
The five day swim meet will feature Olympic medallists Cate Campbell, Hayden Stoeckel and Christian Sprenger racing alongside 13 members of Australia's triumphant Paralympic swim team, led by eight-time medallist Matt Cowdrey.
The Paralympians will fly straight to Melbourne for the second day of competition on Sunday when their charter flight from Beijing arrives in Sydney tomorrow.
But with Rice, Sullivan and the majority of Australia's 2008 Olympic swimming team taking a well earned break, the meet will provide the perfect opportunity for the next wave of swim stars to shine.
"I look at the absence of some of our higher profile swimmers as an opportunity for some of the younger brigade to make a name for themselves," Thompson said.
"People like Stephanie Rice, who won her first ever open national medal at the 2004 Australian Short Course Championships, or Eamon Sullivan, who won his first ever national open title at the 2005 Australian Short Course, are perfect examples of how a meet like this and an opportunity can be very important in a young athlete's development.
"Who knows, the next Stephanie or Eamon, could be in the water this week taking important steps in their development towards the London Olympics in four years time."
According to Thompson, another important step on the developmental pathway will be the 2009 Junior Pan Pacific Championships and the 2009 Australian Youth Olympic Festival - two teams that will be selected from the meet this week.
"We had nine swimmers on this year's Olympic team that swam at one or other of those two junior international meets in 2005 and those guys brought home 11 medals, including gold for Stephanie, Bronte Barratt and Kylie Palmer," Thompson said.
"I know our National Youth Coach Leigh Nugent is very encouraged by the talent coming through the ranks and hopefully we will see some of those kids stand up and be counted here and qualify for those teams for 2009."
The meet will witness 523 swimmers from 141 clubs in action in 60 events, including multi-disability races where Cowdrey and fellow Paralympic medallists Jacquie Freney, Ellie Cole, Jay Dohnt and Sam Bramham will be the headliners.
Last year's Australian Short Course Championships witnessed Libby Trickett (then Lenton) and a men's 4x200 metre freestyle relay team of Grant Hackett, Kirk Palmer, Grant Brits and Kenrick Monk break world records.
Tickets can be purchased at the door and start at $3 for children / concession and $5 for adults. Heats sessions start at 10am each day, with finals set down for 6.30pm.