Top T&T swimmer George Bovell III will have the financial support of the Government via the Ministry of Sport as he looks ahead to the 2016 Rio Olympics in Brazil.
This was confirmed by Ashwin Creed, permanent secretary in the Ministry of Sport, at a welcome reception held in Bovell III’s honour to celebrate his historic FINA World Short Course Swimming Championship bronze medal in the men’s 100m individual medley in Istanbul, Turkey, earlier this month.
Creed was speaking to a small gathering which included Bovell III’s coach, Minister of Sport Anil Roberts; SporTT chairman and former Olympic swimmer Sebastian Paddington; special advisor to the Minister of Sport Caryl Kellar; senior manager/executive manager Corporate Services Adrian Raymond; senior manager Corporate Communications Nyssa Pierre; and the parents of the history-making local swimmer George Bovell II and Barbara Bovell, at the VIP Lounge, Piarco International Airport, on Monday night, following his return home from Europe.
Taking first turn at the podium, Creed first congratulated the 29-year-old Bovell III, who was also fourth in the 50m freestyle final—missing a medal by 0.04 seconds—on what he considered an avalanche of performances over the year which included 16 medals (seven gold, nine silver) over the eight legs of the FINA/ARENA Short Course Swimming World Cup and a seventh-placed finish in the men’s 50m freestyle final at the London Olympics.
He said, “I will like to take it back a bit to Athens 2004 when he (Bovell III) won the bronze medal in the 200m individual medley and subsequent medals at various Pan American Games and other championships.
“This year, coming out of the Olympic Games, he placed seventh and some people may say it was a disappointing performance not having medalled.”
Taking a swipe at the local media for their headlines, Creed added, “Seventh in the world by any standard is a top performance and I want to particularly say that to the media.
“People don’t know when you have to go through rounds of qualification what it takes to get to a final when you come up against 200 countries in the world and coming out of London, yes, it was a disappointment to him that he did not medal.”
Turning to the swimmer, who had spent the last 36 hours travelling to T&T from the Vladimir Salnikov Cup in St Petersburg, Russia, where he won a gold (100m IM) and silver (50m freestyle), Creed reminded the former NCAA champion of their chat after his London swim: “…I told him I believed there was still a lot of him that has not come out as yet.
“So if you look back at the seventh-placed performance and then the results of the World Cup where he was second overall, and now the World Short Course Championships, winning a bronze medal in the 100m IM and fourth in the 50m freestyle and to follow it up with gold and silver in Russia, it tells you a lot about George Bovell.”
“It tells you he is able to recover from disappointment and really perform against the best in the world. This augurs well for George’s future as we move towards Brazil 2016 Olympics. The Minister of Sport (Anil Roberts) has already mentioned Cabinet’s approved a major investment plan for the next Olympics and surely, George, we are going to support you all the way,” said Creed.
By Nigel Simon
Source: www.guardian.co.tt