Just a few weeks after the USA announced a change of heart about the Youth Olympic Games, Britain took an opposite path and announced that they would not have a representative squad in Singapore.
The British Swimming Association (BSA), Britain’s equivalent of USA-S, cited the crowded international schedule this season that includes both European Championships and the Commonwealth Games. Unlike the United States, the BSA chose not to send a sort of “junior” squad, or “Olympians in training” squad to represent the nation at the inaugaral YOG’s, made up of swimmers who were not on the junior national team, so that it would not interfere with the other meets.
The biggest critic of the move came from within their own country in the form of the British Olympic Comittee. The BOC was hoping to send a full squad to the games in support of the IOC. This was a political desire of sorts, to keep the organization on positive footing with the IOC ahead of the upcoming 2012 Olympic Games in London. The swimming portion is likely to be one of the more popular events of the Youth Olympics, as it is for the Senior Olympics, as fans hope to get a glimpse of the next Phelps, Thorpe, Coughlin, or Kitajima.