The four local swimmers selected to represent Guyana at the FINA World Aquatic Championships in Rome, Italy, next month are severely hampered by lack of adequate pool time at the only short course pool, Castellani Pool. So says Nicholas Fraser, vice-president (Technical) of the Guyana Amateur Swimming Association (GASA).

Henk Lowe

The Castellani Pool is the only short course pool in the country recognized by the world swimming body, FINA (International Swimming Federation).

Fraser told Stabroek Sport that the four selectees are only getting seven one-hour training sessions each week compared to their Trinidadian counterparts who get an average of 15 hours of training each week.

The four, who are due to take part in the world’s largest swimming event, which takes place from July 18 to August 2, are Fabian Binns, Henk Lowe, Noelle Smith and Niall Roberts.

Noelle Smith

According to Fraser, the World Aquatic Champion-ships is actually bigger than the Olympics since it features the biggest names in swimming.

Unlike the Olympic Games in which only first and second place qualifiers are allowed to compete, any country could send any amount of swimmers so that the level of swimming in the finals could be higher than that of the Olympic Games.

Fraser noted that the swimmers get six, one-hour training sessions at the 25 metre Castellani Pool, each week and two, one-hour sessions at the 25 yard Colgrain Pool, each week which was totally inadequate.

On the other hand, he said that based on discourse he has had with his counterparts in Trinidad and Tobago, their swimmers get a one-hour training in the morning before they go to school or their regular daily activity and five two-hour training sessions in the afternoons.

Nicholas Fraser

While the Colgrain Pool is inadequate for training, Fraser said that it was also the only pool used by the four clubs in Georgetown to gear their swimmers for local meets as well as keep them fit and it is also used for beginner classes.

Noting the disadvantage that the local swimmers are starting out with and in view of the fact that in the past Olympian Niall Roberts has had to train under similar circumstances, Fraser said the GASA dispatched a letter to the Office of the President, which has control over the Castellani Pool, requesting additional pool times in the afternoons for the Rome-bound swimmers.

The response was positive.

Niall Roberts

“Initially we got a letter saying yes, we were given permission to train from May 25 up to the games in the afternoons from 4pm to 6pm. They gave us all the afternoons from Mondays to Fridays.”

However, Fraser said that on May 26, (a national holiday) at the appointed time, three of his swimmers, Lowe, Smith and Roberts along with himself were first denied entry by the guard who had not been informed that permission had been granted them to use the pool.

They were only allowed in after they produced the letter granting permission granting them permission.

At the time there were persons using the pool. Fraser said the  explained to them that he would only use two lanes, the fourth and the fifth lanes to the south of the pool, which he felt would not have inconvenienced them since they were using the warm down area or the shallow end of the pool.

They trained for just 45 minutes. The following day, (World Challenge Day) the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports had asked for top athletes to lead the way in doing 15 minutes of exercises and the swimming association was to have their athletes in the pool from 4:30pm to 5:30pm.

“I believe that it was at that time persons from the government were trying to use the pool. We got a letter the very next day from Office of the President that we would no longer be able to use the pool in the afternoons.”

Fraser said that the reason the emphasis was on Castellani was due to the fact that it is the only official size pool recognized by FINA as the 25-yard Colgrain is not recognised.

“This is why we emphasise the need to use Castellani to do our training and hold major competitions to get qualifying times for some competitions. (Not all competitions since some competitions require times recorded in a 50-metre pool which Guyana does not have) times gained at Colgrain would not be recognized.”

He said that even if the Office of the President could grant two two-hour sessions each week in the lead up to Rome, much training could be covered in the additional four hours gained during the week.

He suggested that until the Olympic size (50-metre pool) now under construction is open for use by Guyana’s top swimmers it may be wise if the government granted permission for the swimmers in training for regional and international competitions two or three afternoons each week.  A list of the names of these persons could be provided to the government.

“Every time we are going to international swim meets we go with a disadvantage because we do not have adequate pool time. Yet you would hear that our swimmers break their own records or national records at these meets.

Even when you go to GASA annual awards you hear of the number of national records broken for the year; that the swimmers are doing well in spite of the handicaps. It is against that backdrop that the only Guyanese-trained athlete who took part in the last Olympics in Beijing was from swimming. All the others were trained outside of Guyana,” Fraser declared.