In what was really more of a formality than a ground-breaking gesture, Sweden has named Therese Alshammar and Sarah Sjostrom to the Olympic 2012 Team.
The pair are the current World Record holders in the 50 and 100 butterflies, and sporting icons in the country. They were among 40 athletes, sporting-wide, that Sweden have prequalified for the Olympics. There were no official declarations of which event each would swim yet, but one would presume that Sjostrom will swim at least the 100 fly, and likely the 200 free, and that Sjostrom will surely compete in the 50 free.
This makes Sweden the second of the elite swimming nations to begin naming their Olympic rosters. Hungary put 12 on their team before the World Championships based on swimmers with “A” qualifying times.
List of Prequalified Swedish Athletes for the 2012 Olympics
WRESTLING
Jimmy Lidberg
FOOTBALL
women’s teams, 18 players
CANOE
Anders Gustafsson
Marcus Oscarsson
, Henrik Nilsson
RIDING
Dressage team, 4 Rider
Eventing team, five riders
jumping team, four riders
ROWING
Frida Svensson
Lassi Karonen
SWIMMING
Therese Alshammar
Sarah Sjostrom
TRIATHLON
Lisa Nordén