Ellen Gandy Defects, Australia Celebrates

Ellen Gandy has 'done a Fargus' and chosen to represent Australia in future international competitions. Having been based in Australia for five years and citing difficult travelling arrangements back and forth to Britain for trials, Gandy has taken the major step of switching allegiances.

It is safe to say the Aussies are pleased...

Burning Questions

•  Could British Swimming have done more to keep Gandy swimming for her homeland? This is the second high profile change of allegiance in the last few years following Ben Hockin's switch to Paraguay.

• Coming a day after the review into Britain's failure, is the timing of Gandy's decision a coincidence / a direct response / a kick in the nuts?

•  Will Gandy go full Aussie in future interviews?

- Journalist: "How do you feel about your switch to Australia?"
- Gandy: "True blue mate. It's all fair dinkum, British swimming's leadership is a brown-eyed mullet"


In recognition of her service to the nation she leaves behind, here is a reminder of Gandy's best moment as a British swimmer...

 

Australian Olympic Trials

March 15 - 22

Start List
Results

Qualifying Criteria

One TV Coverage

Heats start at 10am , Finals start at 7pm (Thu, Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu) and 6:30pm (Fri, Sat, Sun)
(10am in Adelaide = 11:30pm GMT / 7:30pm EDT , 6:30pm in Adelaide = 8am GMT / 4am EDT)

Geoff Huegill Opens Up About Drug Use And Partying While Retired

Below is an extract from Geoff Huegill's new book Be Your Best. It shines a light on the oft-overlooked struggle that elite athletes face when they go from being one of the best in the world in their chosen sport, to being just another person trying to make a living.


"I made the final in Athens on talent alone, and people were justifiably upset with me. I just didn't know where to go at the time. I carried a fear of failure that prevented me from giving my all. It had been too hard to refocus after Sydney, and I was only going through the motions in the lead-up to Athens.

Competitive swimming was still in my blood, but I was clearly losing motivation and was completely unable to make the transition to a productive life outside the pool.

Pretty soon after Athens everything seemed to fall apart, and that next year, 2005, would be a total waste of time.

If I was going to stay in swimming and move from Queensland, the only two coaches I wanted to work with were Grant Stoelwinder and Jim Fowlie, but neither of them was available . . . this added to my uncertainty, but I decided to come down to Sydney anyway.

In Sydney, there was a lot of partying going on and swimming wasn’t my main priority. I’d train for two or three weeks, often with the guys at Sydney University, then I’d have a month off. I couldn’t go on like that. The writing was on the wall and I finally called it quits . . . I was 26.