Source: www.guardian.co.tt
Story by: Nigel Simon
A fit again, Olympic bronze medal swimmer, George Bovell III leaves on Sunday, for Rome where he will compete at the Italian Open at the Stadio del Nuoto. It is the same venue where Bovell competed in the 13th FINA World Long Course Swimming Championship two years ago where he placed seventh in the 50 metres freestyle final. This time around, Bovell who earned his Olympic bronze medal in the 200 metres individual medley in Athens Greece 2004 says he will compete in the 50 metres freestyle as well as the 100 metres freestyle and 50 metres backstroke.
He will also compete at the Paris Open next weekend before returning home to fine-tune his preparations for the FINA World Long Course Championship in Shanghai, China from July 16 to 31.
Looking ahead to the swim meet in Italy, the 27-year-old Bovell said it is expected to be a top quality one attended by a number of top swimmers. Asked if he was ready for the challenge, a confident Bovell replied, “Yes I am. I have been training very hard and things are coming along great under coach (Minister of Sport and Youth Affairs) Anil Roberts. So at the moment I’m tapered and just trying to get some rest ahead of the competition.
Last weekend, Bovell III returned to the pool and competed in the National Age-Group Long Course Swimming Championship at the Marlins’ Swimming Pool, Morne Coco Road, Westmoorings.
The former Auburn University stand-out and NCAA Division swimming champion, competed in the 50 metres freestyle and 50 metres backstroke events and won comfortably. In the 18 & Over 50m freestyle, Bovell coasted to victory in 22.80 seconds, which improved on his preliminary time of 22.94.
Second was Joshua Mc Leod in 23.58 while Caryle Blondell took third in 23.66. Bovell won the 50m backstroke in 26.30 seconds followed by Mc Leod (27.38) and Blondell (28.33). His swim over the weekend marked the first time since 2007, Bovell III had competed locally and was his first since he last competed in mid-April at the Eindhoven Open in Holland.
He began the year with three gold medal swims in South Africa and followed it up by competing at the Spanish Open where he repeated as the 50m freestyle champion. However, his scheduled was interrupted by a freak injury in Spain enroute to Holland when he sliced his toe and was sidelined for almost a month. But after last weekend’s outing Bovell who said he was a bit disappointed with his time in the 50m freestyle, is now ready to resume his preparations on the international stage. “Since my injury has healed I have continued with my programme to increase my strength, speed, technique and fitness.
In the lead-up to the meet at Marlins, Bovell III also had two of his former Auburn University swimming teammates, Bryan Lundquist and Joe Pascall join him for training in Trinidad. “Lundquist and Pascall joined me in training for two weeks each because training on your own could be very difficult at times. “When you are training on your own you have to find that inner drive to succeed. But it has worked so far and in the long run it will work to my benefit,” he said.