Top Trinidad and Tobago swimmer George Bovell says he is an underdog for a medal ahead of the FINA World Long Course Swimming Championships in Barcelona, Spain.
Bovell flies into Spain tomorrow to meet up with the Mc Leod brothers Joshua and Abraham, together with national coach Joseph Mc Leod and manager of the national team George Bovell II, all of whom have already settled in Barcelona and are awaiting the T&T Athens Olympic bronze medallist.
Bovell, a World Championships bronze medallist, is travelling from his base in Detroit, Michigan where he is fine-tuning his preparation under Michigan Wolverines head coach Mike Bottom.
Looking forward to the Worlds, Bovell said he is ready to challenge the World’s top sprinters.
“This time around I believe I have once again done everything I can to prepare myself. I consider myself an underdog medal contender, calmly outside of the spotlight. I have taken this year to experiment with some new methods and philosophies in practice. I have been able to sustain swimming fast all year in practice and am actually undefeated for the year in competition. I am saying that because I can,” he said.
Bovell continued: “My goal is simply to improve on my strengths and compensate for my weaknesses last year, to be faster than I have ever been before. I was 21.77 last year, this year the time of 21.55 keeps resurfacing in my mind. I believe if I were to go close to that time, it would surely medal,” he said.
Bovell said he has also been training a large amount on all four competitive strokes—freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly—to be able to once again compete and challenge the world’s best in the FINA World Cup which begins in Eindhoven and Berlin immediately after the World Championships.
The Mc Leod brothers booked their tickets Saturday to the World Senior Long Course Aquatics Championships, during the National Age Group Long Course Swimming Championships at the Marlins Swim Club’s Olympic-sized pool in Westmoorings.
Bovell splashes off in his main event the Men’s 50m free on August 2. But Joshua Mc Leod will be the first T&T swimmer to dive into action when he lines up in the heats of the Men’s 50m butterfly on Sunday. His brother Abraham dashes into action in the preliminaries of the 50m breaststroke Tuesday.