The next part of the process in the overhaul of British Swimming will see a new funding structure put in place to support swimming in Wales and Scotland, one that will not include the Intensive Training Centre (ITC) model that has been in place since 2008.
It was announced today that British Swimming has made an agreement with both Scottish Swimming and Swim Wales to put in a three stream strategy that they hope will have a more direct effect on their medal earnings in Rio. It appears that the overall infrastructure of both Scottish Swimming and Swim Wales has been identified as a major issue and that is where the majority of the funding will be directed.
The two additional streams of funding will be focused on the athletes directly ensuring that promising young athletes have the ability to continue on a high performance path and also to allow athletes who are already within striking distance of the podium at international competitions to continue to have support to participate in appropriate camps and competitions along with access sport science resources at the Sport Scotland and Sport Wales Institutes.
“We’re pleased to have reached an agreement with Scottish Swimming and Swim Wales on investment within the home nations,” said British Swimming National Performance Director Chris Spice.
“We will be investing in Scotland and Wales’ elite swimming infrastructure and the funding will be targeted towards athletes that have a realistic chance of winning medals on the international stage up to Tokyo 2020 and beyond.”
“In addition we will also be investing in the performance pathway of the sport to help produce athletes of the future. We’re investing in the future of swimming in Scotland and Wales, and therefore the future of British Swimming.”
Although sporting institutes will still be involved in the structure, the system of swimming specific ITCs that Great Britain had put in place since 2008 in both Stirling and Swansea will be no longer.
This move is anything but a surprise after being hit with a £4,000,000 funding cut British Swimming started their overhaul of the ITCs in February when they eliminated that Stockport Institute, renewed the agreements with the ITCs in Bath and Loughborough with readjusted funding and only extended the contracts with Stirling and Swansea until the end of 2013.
Then in September in an interview with the BBC Spice was vague when addressing how British Swimming would be funding the sport in both Scotland and Wales, “What we’ll absolutely be doing is still investing [in Wales and Scotland]. It’s just at what level and it may not be in one centre.”
With the closing of the two ITCs some of Britain’s top athletes will have to seek new training environments as the Stirling ITC was home to World Championship Team members Jak Scott, Ross Murdoch, and Josh Walsh, while Swansea was home to Jaz Carlin, Georgia Davies, and Jemma Lowe.