LONDON 2012: Ukraine-born Butkevych selected as GB's only wrestler

By Sportsbeat staff

UKRAINE-BORN Olga Butkevych has been selected as Great Britain's only wrestling representative at London 2012, the British Olympic Association has confirmed.

GETTING THE NOD: Olga Butkevych has been selected as Great Britain's sole wrestling representative at the London 2012 Olympics

The 26-year-old was among a group of Eastern European athletes brought over to train with the GB squad in 2007 and received a British passport in May.

She has enjoyed recent international success, claiming European Championships bronze in Dortmund last year while she won silver at the London 2012 test event at the ExCeL last December.

Butkevych will compete in the freestyle 55kg weight category and is Great Britain's only wrestling representative after the sport failed to reach the agreed selection criteria.

"I am extremely honoured, and proud, to be selected to represent Team GB at London 2012," said Butkevych.

"I can assure everyone I will be working extremely hard between now and the Olympic competition to be competitive, and to be in the hunt to win Britain a medal at the Games. I won silver at the Test event last year, and it would be wonderful if I can be on the podium for the real thing!

"I would like to take this opportunity to thank performance director Shaun Morley, and the coaching team at British Wrestling, for all their support since I started representing Britain. It is thanks to their support and patience that I have achieved this honour, and I cannot begin to say how much I appreciate it.

"Wrestling is a great sport, and I hope that more and more people will realise that when competition at the Olympics gets underway.

"I hope that I can help it grow in the UK, and help it benefit from all the plans for an Olympic legacy that British Wrestling have been working so hard to achieve."

Meanwhile, the British Olympic Association have also confirmed that Dan Sliwinski has withdrawn from the swimming squad through injury.

The 22-year-old had been selected for the 100m breaststroke but will now undergo surgery on a shoulder tendon before beginning rehab.

"It is an athlete's worst nightmare," said Sliwinski. "I have had a couple of injuries and I need to go back and rebuild the foundations.

"I am still young enough to think about Rio 2016, but I need to address this injury before it gets worse.

"I still want to swim for as long as I am physically able to and this operation will help with that. The important thing I need to focus on now is my recovery."

The BOA have confirmed that a replacement will be selected in the 100m breaststroke after the second round of trials, the ASA Championships, which take place in Sheffield next weekend.

© Sportsbeat 2012.