The Region’s Swimmers and Divers have been making waves at the Olympic Games and enjoying testing themselves against the very best in the world. After Jo Jackson’s amazing swim in the 400m Freestyle, she just couldn’t find the reserves of energy to see her through the 200m, bowing out at the semi-final stage. Jo said, 'I wanted to give it a good shot, but it didn’t happen. I didn’t feel great in the warm up. I now just need to pick myself up for the relay.’ The 4 x 200m Freestyle relay did not go according to plan however as the team, minus Caitlin McClatchy and Rebecca Adlington, finished ninth after the heats. Jo said after the heat swim, “we were really looking forward to it, I can’t put into words how disappointed we all are. We all gave 100% but at the end of the day it wasn’t good enough.”
Jemma Lowe (Borough of Stockton SC) had a strong swim in the semi final of the 200m Butterfly but finished in ninth place, denying her the opportunity of making her second Olympic final. Jemma had a fantastic swim, leading the field for the majority of the race and turning in 59.97 after the first one hundred metres. Unfortunately she could not maintain the pace in the last 10 metres, finishing third in her semi-final, ninth overall, in 2:07.07 and missing out on a place in the final in 0.14 seconds. “I went out hard and gave it my best shot which the plan was but found it difficult to carry it through. I paid for the early pace but I knew it would take a fast time to make the final,” reflected Lowe, who continued “the medley relay is my focus now and I've shown I've got the pace to make a difference.”
James Kirton of City of Sheffield SC has struggled with a serious injury, resulting in second groin operation only days before he flew to Beijing. He had a courageous swim in the men’s 200m Breaststroke, finishing in thirty-seventh in 2:15.25, however in true Olympic spirit Kirton stood up and raced for his country although he knew he was far from in form.
Chris Cook (City of Newcastle SC) competed in the Men’s 4 x 100m Medley Relay that finished sixth in the final and broke another British Record. “It was incredible, I enjoyed every moment of it and it has been a privilege to swim in this race,” said Cook who swam the breaststroke leg. Jemma Lowe swam the butterfly leg in the Women’s 4 x100m Medley Relay which finished, agonisingly, in fourth position. The team consisting of Gemma Spofforth, Kate Haywood, Jemma Lowe and Fran Halsall broke the European record for the second time in two days, finishing in 3:57.50, but were disappointed not to get a medal. “We are disappointed but there is nothing we can do about it now, we can’t control the other teams, we just had to give it our all which is what we did, “reflected Lowe.
In the Diving pool, Hayley Sage (City of Sheffield) and Tandi Gerrard (City of Leeds) finished in eighth place in the Women’s 3m Synchro Event. Nick Robinson-Baker and Ben Swain (both City of Sheffield) dived well in their 3m Synchro event but couldn’t pull a medal out of the hat in what was an incredibly tight finish from the teams in second to seventh, where the British pair ended the competition.
Ben Swain also competed in the Individual 3m Springboard competition but couldn’t make the semi-final, finishing in 26th position on 390.30 points, some 40 points more than he scored in last year’s World Championships. Rebecca Gallantree who trains at City of Leeds Diving Club, finished in 25th position in the 3m Springboard event, also just missing out on a semi-final spot.
