A spectacular opening ceremony signalled the start of the Games of the 29th Olympiad in Beijing. Directed by Zhang Yimou, the ceremony portrayed 5,000 years of Chinese history and included over 35,000 fireworks and 10,000 performers at The National Stadium of China, affectionately known as ‘the Bird’s Nest’ due to its steel lattice construction. The stadium was at its full capacity of 90,000 spectators, in addition to an estimated global TV audience of over one biliion people.

Great Britain, one of the 204 National Teams represented at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games was led into the Bird’s Nest Stadium by five time Olympian, swimmer, Mark Foster. Foster becomes the first swimmer to carry the Union Flag at an Opening Ceremony since Anita Lonsborough at the Tokyo Games in 1964.

The swimming competition starts tomorrow (9.08.08) with the heats of the men’s and women’s 400m Individual Medley, women’s 100m butterfly, men’s 400m freestyle, men’s 100m backstroke and women’s 4x100m freestyle relay. There are high hopes that a number of Great Britain swimmers will make the semi-finals and finals of their respective events including birthday girl Hannah Miley, who celebrates her nineteenth birth today.

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For further details contact British Swimming Media Consultant Louise Gibson on 01509 632262, 07917876 459 or email louise.gibson@swimming.org

British Swimming is the National Governing Body for Swimming, Diving, Synchronised Swimming, Water Polo and Open Water in Great Britain.  It is responsible internationally for the high performance representation of the sport. The members of British Swimming are the three Home Countries national governing bodies of England (Amateur Swimming Association), Scotland (Scottish Amateur Swimming Association) and Wales (Welsh Amateur Swimming Association). British Swimming seeks to enable its athletes to achieve gold medal success at the Olympics, Paralympics, World Championships and Commonwealth Games.

About Speedo®
Synonymous with swimwear, the iconic brand celebrates 80 years of dominance creating revolutionary new technologies, designs and innovations.  In the 1920s Speedo® made history with the Racerback: the world’s first non-wool suit. In 2008 Speedo® redefines swimwear again with Fastskin® LZR RACER®  - the fastest and most technologically advanced swimsuit ever created; meanwhile designer collaborations with Comme des Garçons put Speedo® at the cutting edge of design. As the world’s leading swimwear brand, Speedo® is passionate about life in and around the water, supporting swimming from beginners through to elite level, including the phenomenal Michael Phelps.  Speedo® is owned by Pentland Brands and distributed in over 170 countries around the world; to find out more visit: www.speedo.com. SPEEDO, the ARROW device, FASTSKIN, LZR PULSE and LZR RACER are registered trademarks of Speedo Holdings B.V. The LZR RACER suit has worldwide design rights and patents pending. 

 

The Australian Water Polo team will shortly arrive in England to play against the British men and women’s junior teams.

The men’s junior teams will play at Cardiff International Pool over three days, Friday 15th August until Sunday 16th August. On Friday and Sunday the competition will commence at 6pm-8pm, and on Saturday 16th August the event starts at 5pm-9pm.

The women’s junior teams are set to plat at Manchester Aquatic Centre on Monday 1st September and Tuesday 2nd September, from 6pm-8pm.

Nick Hume National Performance Director for British Water Polo said, “This event is seen as preparation for European Junior Championships in September.

“The Australian team is very strong, so this will be good training for our players. They have been working very hard and had a few away trips but we will know more about their form after this event with the Australians.

“The British players will try very hard to step up to the challenge and match the ability of the Australians.”

The European Junior Championships are held in Turkey, September 7th-14th  for the men and Greece, September 14th-21st for the women.

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For further details contact British Swimming Media Assistant Natalie Hassall on 01509 632236 or natalie.hassall@swimming.org.

British Swimming is the National Governing Body for Swimming, Diving, Synchronised Swimming, Water Polo and Open Water in Great Britain.  It is responsible internationally for the high performance representation of the sport. The members of British Swimming are the three Home Countries national governing bodies of England (Amateur Swimming Association), Scotland (Scottish Amateur Swimming Association) and Wales (Welsh Amateur Swimming Association). British Swimming seeks to enable its athletes to achieve gold medal success at the Olympics, Paralympics, World Championships and Commonwealth Games.

About Speedo®
Synonymous with swimwear, the iconic brand celebrates 80 years of dominance creating revolutionary new technologies, designs and innovations.  In the 1920s Speedo® made history with the Racerback: the world’s first non-wool suit. In 2008 Speedo® redefines swimwear again with Fastskin® LZR RACER®  - the fastest and most technologically advanced swimsuit ever created; meanwhile designer collaborations with Comme des Garçons put Speedo® at the cutting edge of design. As the world’s leading swimwear brand, Speedo® is passionate about life in and around the water, supporting swimming from beginners through to elite level, including the phenomenal Michael Phelps.  Speedo® is owned by Pentland Brands and distributed in over 170 countries around the world; to find out more visit: www.speedo.com. SPEEDO, the ARROW device, FASTSKIN, LZR PULSE and LZR RACER are registered trademarks of Speedo Holdings B.V. The LZR RACER suit has worldwide design rights and patents pending. 

The Government has announced how it will allocate the £60m to improve swimming facilities as part of its Free Swimming programme – and the asa will play a key part.

The Free Swimming Capital Modernisation Development Programme (SCMP) has been set up to distribute the capital element of the free swimming programme, where money will be used specifically for improvements to publicly accessible swimming pools in local authority or maintained school ownership.

The SCMP is a collaboration of key partners including the asa, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF), Sport England and the Local Government Association.

Sport England will be providing strategic co-ordination for this programme on behalf of all the partners and will undertake the assessment, payment, compliance and monitoring function for programme. But the asa will also play a key role and will help Sport England to provide development support and will jointly sign off the designs for swimming facilities.

David Sparkes, the Chief Executive of the asa, said: “We very much welcome the fact we will be working so closely with Sport England to make sure this funding will go to create the best possible facilities. It represents the intentions of the government to provide the opportunity for people to enjoy swimming as part of an active and healthy lifestyle.

“Enhancing swimming facilities is one of the steps that will ultimately help lead to this increased participation in swimming because if people visit a pool and are greeted with good facilities it can only help them to have a good experience. Especially as swimming is unique as a sport that provides pleasure to all the community and is suitable to all age groups.

“This money is very welcome but we are aware it will only go someway to meeting the investment needed in the nation’s swimming pools to bring swimming facilities up to the standard expected by the public. We hope that by the end of 2011 the government will see that by investing in facilities they can encourage more people to come to the pool and this will push them into providing further funding to improve the stock of pools and make free swimming for all a reality.”

The £60m will be split into £10m in 2008/09 and £25m in each of the financial years 2009/10 and 2010/11, with half supplied by DCMS and half by DCSF. The £30m capital from DCSF is primarily aimed at pools on school sites. 

The SCMP has produced a prospectus, which provides detailed information on how the capital element of the programme can be accessed. For full details on the programme and prospectus CLICK HERE.

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For more information contact the asa PR Manager Sharon Rose on 01509 632262, 07876 652318 or email sharon.rose@swimming.org

The asa is the English National Governing Body for Swimming, Diving, Water Polo, Open Water, and Synchronised Swimming. It organises competition throughout England, establishes the Laws of the Sport and operates comprehensive certification and education programmes for Teachers, Coaches and Officials as well as its renowned Learn To Swim Awards scheme. The asa supports 1,220 affiliated swimming clubs through a National/Regional/County structure. The asa aims to ensure everybody has an opportunity to learn to swim.

About Kellogg
The Kellogg Company was founded in 1906 and today produces 40 different cereals including popular brands such as Special K, Cornflakes and Coco Pops, and 56 different snacks including brands such as Nutri-Grain, FruitaBu and Special K snacks.

About Speedo®
Synonymous with swimwear, the iconic brand celebrates 80 years of dominance creating revolutionary new technologies, designs and innovations.  In the 1920s Speedo® made history with the Racerback: the world’s first non-wool suit. In 2008 Speedo® redefines swimwear again with Fastskin® LZR RACER®  - the fastest and most technologically advanced swimsuit ever created; meanwhile designer collaborations with Comme des Garçons put Speedo® at the cutting edge of design. As the world’s leading swimwear brand, Speedo® is passionate about life in and around the water, supporting swimming from beginners through to elite level, including the phenomenal Michael Phelps.  Speedo® is owned by Pentland Brands and distributed in over 170 countries around the world; to find out more visit: www.speedo.com. SPEEDO, the ARROW device, FASTSKIN, LZR PULSE and LZR RACER are registered trademarks of Speedo Holdings B.V. The LZR RACER suit has worldwide design rights and patents pending.

Swimmer Mark Foster said he is honoured to be asked to be Great Britain’s flag-bearer at the Opening Ceremony to the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

The 38-year-old is about to compete at his fifth Olympic Games after making his Olympic debut at Seoul in 1988.

He becomes the first swimmer to carry the Union Flag at an Olympic Opening Ceremony since Anita Lonsborough at the Tokyo Games in 1964.

He said: “I was blown away when I was told, it was a big surprise and a huge honour. It’s fantastic.

“Some of the most wonderful names in British sport have been Olympic flag-bearers.

“I really wanted to be picked but I didn’t totally believe I would be,” he added. “My heart was pumping when the announcement was made.

“Making the Olympic Games this time around was fantastic in itself, but this has really topped it off. It’s phenomenal.”

The announcement was made at a Team GB reception hosted by the British Ambassador Sir William Ehrman at the British Ambassador’s Residence in Beijing tonight (Wednesday).

It was made by Simon Clegg, Team GB’s Chef de Mission, in the presence of HRH The Princess Royal and Gerry Sutcliffe, Minister for Sport.

Foster competed at the Seoul Games in 1988, as well as at Barcelona in 1992, Atlanta in 1996 and at Sydney 2000. He reached the 50m freestyle finals at both Barcelona and Sydney.

During his illustrious career he has set five world records, seven European records, nine Commonwealth records and 19 British records.

Foster, a University of Bath Swimming Club member, swims the 50m freestyle at the Beijing 2008 Games.

Each of Team GB’s team leaders had the option to nominate a candidate for flag-bearer, in consultation with their athletes. Team leaders then voted on the shortlist of nominees in consultation with their athletes.

The Opening Ceremony takes place at the National Stadium, starting at 8pm Beijing local time on Friday 8 August.

For further information
Please note Beijing local time is seven hours ahead of BST – if you are based in the UK please contact the London press office, which is operational from 6am to 9pm BST.

London office: 020 8871 2677 ext 215, 233, 227 or 247, or try the 24/7 hotline on +44 7725 372598

Overall queries & canoeing: Miriam Wilkens (Chief Press Officer) +86 1507 720 4293

Badminton, gymnastics, hockey & judo: Emma Griffin (Press Officer) +86 1507 720 4296

Archery, boxing, fencing, tennis & triathlon: Louisa Huddy (Press Officer) +86 1507 720 4295

Cycling, modern pentathlon, shooting, taekwondo  & weightlifting:  Becks Middleton (Press Officer) +86 1507 720 4294

Athletics: Chris Broadbent (Press Officer) +86 134 88 65 25 41
Equestrian: Winnie Murphy (Press Officer) +852 632 357 66
Rowing: Caroline Searle (Press Officer) +86 1507 720 4414
Sailing: Lindsey Bell (Press Officer) +86 1509 227 0939
Swimming: David Richards  (Press Officer) +44 7789 926136

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Team GB for Beijing is the best prepared British team ever, Andy Burnham, Secretary of State for Sport, said today.

The tripling of funding for elite sport between Athens and Beijing gives team GB a good chance of its best performance in a non-boycotted Olympics since Antwerp in 1920.

Funding for elite sport in preparation for the Beijing Olympic and Paralympic games is a record £265m over the four year cycle, compared to £84m in Athens and £63m in Sydney. The increase is down to record Government investment announced in the budget of 2006 when then Chancellor Gordon Brown announced £200m extra in Government cash for elite sport.

Andy Burnham said: "This will be the biggest Olympics yet and the GB team goes into it better prepared than ever before. Other countries and old rivals like Australia now look to us as a country that got serious about sport and are now saying they are in danger of falling behind team GB in the medal table.

"Gordon Brown's decision in 2006 to give more money to elite sport as we get ready for 2012 has made this possible. We are about to enter a glorious new era for British sport and I hope success in Beijing will inspire the next generation of young sports stars."

The record investment is supporting the development of even greater number of athletes through UK Sport's World Class Performance Programme. In Athens funding in the lead up to the games supported 500 athletes. In the lead up to Beijing 1400 athletes have been supported by funding programmes.

In the Atlanta games, there was no direct investment of public funding in elite sport and team GB came in a disappointing 36th, with only one gold medal. Medal tables show gradual improvement since the low of Atlanta rising to 10th in Sydney and 10th again in Athens.

UK Sport, the Government agency in charge of elite sport have set a target of between 35 and 41 medals and a place of eighth overall in the medals table, which would be Britain's best performance in a non-boycotted Olympics since Antwerp in 1920.

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European Champion Tom Daley will feature on the BBC Olympic Dreams documentary shown tonight at 10.35pm on BBC1.

In the final of four episodes, Tom is shown dealing with his qualification as the youngest athlete on the 2008 Olympic squad. And as the games approach, he pushes his body to limit to make sure he is as best prepared as possible for Beijing.

Tom’s first event at the 2008 Olympic Games is on Monday 11th August in the men’s 10m Synchronised final.

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Chalfont Otters Swimming are delighted to announce that Bruce Snodgrass will take over as Head Coach from September following current coach George Bushell’s relocation to Oxfordshire.
 
Bruce is well known within the local swimming community and comes with a wealth of coaching experience, especially for someone so young. He has been coaching for 14 years in South Africa, USA, and here in UK.

After securing a swimming scholarship to University of Alabama he coached alongside the Director of Science and Technology of the US National Swim Team. Bruce won numerous National medals at both junior and senior levels, and held 5 Junior Age Group Records in his native S Africa. His coaching achievements also include technical work with an Olympic Bronze medal winner.

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A group of young swimmers from the City of Coventry Swimming Club were given the opportunity to meet former Olympic silver medallist Sharron Davies at the official opening of the Direct Gov at Warwick Shire Hall.

The young swimmers were invited to fire questions at Davies and were encouraged when they found out she won her first Age Group title in Coventry’s 50m facility.

Davies completed the interview by signing autographs which included a teddy bear for each of the swimmers and posing for photos.

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Members of the asa are being given the first-class offer of 2 tickets for the price of 1 at cricket matches across England.

the asa has teamed up with the English Cricket Board (ECB) to offer free companion prices to half a dozen LV County Championship matches in July and August.

The counties offering two tickets for the price of one are Derbyshire CCC, Durham CCC, Gloucestershire CCC, Worcestershire CCC and Yorkshire CCC.  If members buy a ticket for a day’s play, they can bring a companion for FREE, which represents as much as a £15 saving on the two tickets (depending on the ground).

All members have to do to redeem the offer (and learn more about the featured matches) is print out this special voucher, fill it in and take it to the participating ground along with their asa membership card.

The ECB is also offering Kids for a Quid at selected Derbyshire, Lancashire, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire, Somerset, Sussex and Worcestershire matches between Thursday 10 July and Friday 25 July. Children must be accompanied by an adult.  Other terms and conditions apply.

CLICK HERE more information on all this summer’s ECB’s cricket promotions.