George Bovell opened his 2012 Olympic Games campaign with a national record at the Aquatics Centre, here in London, England, yesterday.

The Trinidad and Tobago swimmer topped heat two in the men's 100 metres backstroke in 55.22 seconds, improving on the 55.65 national standard he had established in March. Colombian Omar Garcia (55.37) and Cuban Pedro Medel (55.40) finished second and third, respectively.

The new T&T record earned Bovell 29th spot overall. The top 16 swimmers advanced to the semifinal round.

"It would have been nice to swim 54," Bovell told the Express, after his heat, "but I really don't consider myself a backstroker and I don't care about backstroke. It's just an opportunity to get in, see how I feel, see how the water is."

Bovell enjoyed significant gains in his Olympic opener. In addition to chopping 43-hundredths of a second off the T&T record, the country's best ever swimmer touched the wall ahead of seven men who had faster qualifying times coming into the London Games. In fact, he was 40th fastest of the 43 swimmers entered in the event, but had the satisfaction of a 29th-place finish.

Bovell's main focus at London 2012 is the 50m freestyle, an event in which he has a real chance of getting to the final.

"It's my best (100 back) time by a bit. I think I showed some good speed in the first half, so my 50 (free) should be alright."

Halfway through his 100m backstroke heat, Bovell was in front, covering the first 50 metres in 26.18 seconds--the 14th fastest split in the opening round.

The Athens 2004 200m individual medley bronze medallist is hoping to climb an Olympic podium for the second time. He said he's satisfied with his final preparations ahead of his 50 free medal bid, and is confident of diving under 22 seconds here in London.

"For sure, 21…21, whatever it takes. We'll see."

Andrew Lewis makes his Olympic debut from seven a.m. today (T&T time), at Weymouth and Portland, in Dorset--some three hours from London by train. The T&T sailor will be on show on the Weymouth Bay South course, in the first two races of the men's Laser class competition.

All 49 competitors will be on the water in ten races—six between today and Wednesday, two more on Friday and another two on Saturday. The top ten sailors on the standings will then compete in next Monday's medal race.

Lewis told the Express, yesterday, he is pleased with the build-up to his first ever Olympic appearance.

"Really, really good. Everything is falling into place with my fitness, weight management, and breaking in the boat and wetsuits. I've had good preparation for the Games. I'm ready. I sailed part of the course today (yesterday) in a practice race. It really went well, which is a good indicator."

Lewis' preparations for London 2012 included a one-week stay at the T&T camp, in Cardiff, Wales. He said the time he spent at the camp was very beneficial.

"After a month and a half in the boat, my coach and I decided to not be in the boat. I focused on fitness and recovery in Cardiff, and when I went back in the boat I felt really good."

The Laser class field is packed with quality. Seven of the top ten finishers at the 2008 Games, in Beijing, China, will be on the water today, including Great Britain's reigning Olympic champion Paul Goodison.

In stark contrast to Goodison, a 34-year-old veteran, Lewis is just 22 and in the fledgling stage of his career. While the Briton will compete with the burden of expectation, T&T's lone sailor here in London is placing no pressure on himself to perform.

"Of the 49 men in the event, I was the second to last qualifier, so I'll just do my best," Lewis ended, "sail as hard as I can."

MEDALS TABLE (AFTER DAY 2) Rank Team Gold Silver Bronze Total 1 China 6 4 2 12 2 USA 3 5 3 11 3 Italy 2 3 2 7 4 S Korea 2 1 2 5 5 France 2 1 1 4 6 N Korea 2 0 1 3 7 Kazakhstan 2 0 0 2 8 Australia 1 1 1 3 9 Brazil 1 1 1 3 10 Hungary 1 1 1 3 11 Netherlands 1 1 0 2 12 Russia 1 0 3 4 13 Georgia 1 0 0 1 14 S Africa 1 0 0 1 15 Japan 0 2 3 5 Day 2 — Medals Swimming Men's 100m Breast: 1. S Africa (Cameron van der Burgh) 2. Australia (Christian Sprenger) 3. USA (Brendan Hansen) Women's 100m B'fly: 1. USA (Dana Vollmer) 2. China (Lu Ying) 3. Australia (Alicia Coutts) Men's 4x100m Free Relay: 1. France 2. USA 3. Russia Women's 400m Freestyle: 1. France (Camille Muffat) 2. USA (Allison Schmitt) 3. Great Britain (Rebecca Adlington) Weightlifting Men's 56kg (123 lbs): 1. N Korea (Om Yun Chol) 2. Wu Jingbiao (China) 3. Valentin Hristof (Azerbaijan) Women's 53kg (117 lbs): 1. Kazakhstan (Zulfiya Chinshanlo) 2. Chinese Taipei (Hsu Shu-Ching) 3. Moldova (Cristina Iovu) Diving Women's sync 3m Springboard: 1. China 2. USA 3. Canada Archery Women's Team: 1. S Korea 2. China 3. Japan Shooting Women's 10m Air Pistol: 1. China (Guo Wenjun) 2. France (Celine Goberville) 3. Ukraine (Olena Kostevych) Women's skeet: 1. US (Kim Rhode) 2. China (Wei Ning) 3. Slovakia (Danka Bartekova) Judo Women's Half Lightweight (52kg): 1. N Korea (An Kum Ae) 2.Cuba (Yanet Bermoy Acosta) 3. France (Priscilla Gneto), Italy (Rosalba Forciniti) Men's Half Lightweight (66kg): 1. Georgia (Lasha Shavdatuashvili) 2. Hungary (Ungvari Miklos) 3. Japan (Masashi Ebinuma), S Korea (Cho Jun-Ho) Fencing Men's Individual Sabre: 1. Hungary (Aron Szilagyi) 2. Italy (Diego Occhiuzzi) 3. Russia (Nikolay Kovalev) Cycling Women's Road Race: 1. Netherlands (Vos Marriane) 2. Great Britain (Elizabeth Armitstead) 3.Russia (Olga Zabelinskaya)

By Kwame Laurence in London

Source: www.trinidadexpress.com