Faulkner leads token British swim team at Youth Olympics

By Sportsbeat staff

 BRITISH Swimming will send a token team to the first-ever Youth Olympic Games in Singapore next month.

FOCUS: Ellie Faulkner will compete for Team GB at the first-ever Youth Olympic Games in Singapore (onEdition)

The event, which is the brainchild of International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge, aims to replicate the Olympic Games, with young athletes between the ages of 14 and 18 competing in all 26 Olympic sports.

British Olympic Association chief executive Andy Hunt had expressed ‘disappointment' at the original decision of British Swimming not to nominate any athletes, after they cited the forthcoming European Junior Championships in Helsinki and European Championships in Budapest as priority events.

However, the squad announced this morning includes Ellie Faulkner, the reigning European junior open water champion, and national youth champion Rachael Kelly.

Faulkner - who made her senior debut at last year's European Short Course Championships in Istanbul - will compete over the 100m, 200m and 400m freestyle while butterfly specialist Kelly goes in the 50m, 100m and 200m events.

World and European platform diving champion Tom Daley is the big-name included in the 40-strong team - which will compete in 16 sports

He will travel with team-mate Megan Sylvester, who made her senior debut at last year's World Championships in Rome, finishing sixth in the 10m synchro with Monique Gladding.

 

 Lloyds TSB, proud partner of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and supporter of Team GB on their journey to the 2010 Singapore Youth Olympic Games.  Visit LloydsTSB.com/London2012 

National sports agency Sportsbeat and morethanthegames.com will be reporting from the Singapore and syndicating words and pictures to their network of regional and local newspapers across Great Britain.