T&T’s three-time Olympian and Athens Greece, bronze medal winner George Bovell III will go head-to-head with Australian Ian “Torpedo” Thorpe at the Italian Open Long Course National Championship. The two-day meet, which is being used as an Olympic qualifier splashes at the National Swimming Stadium, Italy on Friday. The 27-year-old, coming off a joint-second place finish last month at the Dutch Open in the 50m freestyle (22.24 seconds), will line up against Thorpe in the men’s 50m freestyle along with Italian trio Luca Dotta and Filippo Magnini as well as Dutchman Sebastien Verschuren as he continues his build-up to next year’s London Olympic Games.

Thorpe, a  five-time Olympic gold medallist and ten-time World and Commonwealth Games champion retired in 2006 before announcing his return in February of this year in preparation for next year’s Olympics and will also be using the prestigious meet, open to foreigners for the first time to gauge his form. A double Pan American Games gold and silver medal winner, Bovell III who has been training in Serbia with  Milorad Cavic since participating in Holland will also compete in the 50m backstroke where Holland’s Nick Driebergen is the top seed, as well as the 100m freestyle where Dotto, Marco Orsi and Verschuren will be his main rival.

Looking ahead to the two-day meet in Italy, Bovell said he wants to claim the 50m freestyle gold medal. “I will try to win the 50m freestyle in Italy, but will be against shaved and tapered swimmers coming straight from European Short Course Meets so there will be a very high level of competition. “In terms of time, I hope to go the same or faster. It really depends how hard we are going after it in Serbia. I just need the racing experience long course as the more races I have under my belt, the better.”

The meet in Italy will be the third international one for Bovell III since his car accident on August 16 in Mayaro is among those recognised by FINA as valid for the achievement of “Standard Times” for inclusion in the Olympic Games in London 2012. In his come-back event in the USA, a Pro Duel Meet, he emerged victorious with a time of 22.77 seconds.

By Nigel Simon

Source: www.guardian.co.tt