New Zealand Olympic Swimming Team Announced

Helen Norfolk and Dean Kent will become swimming’s first three-time Olympians when the team for Beijing was announced today by the New Zealand Olympic Committee.

 A 12-strong team was named for the Beijing Olympics by the New Zealand Olympic Committee at the conclusion of the trials at Waitakere City today.

 New Zealand Olympic Selector and New Zealand Olympic Committee (NZOC) Secretary General Barry Maister said the high levels of performance achieved at the trials were outstanding. “New Zealand records were broken and personal bests achieved during a stunning series of trials and the New Zealand Olympic swimming team will certainly field an exciting array of high performance athletes. We’ve got tough selection criteria and the swimmers announced today have clearly met our standards. We’re delighted to welcome them to the team.”

 The team includes seven swimmers who achieved individual qualifying times at the trials, and the remaining five in the two relays that have re-qualified.

 Kent (North Shore), 29, will contest his third straight Olympics in the 200m individual medley, after finishing 13th in that event in Athens. Norfolk (SNZ High Performance), 26, will add Beijing to the Olympiads of Athens and Sydney and will contest both the 200m and 400m individual medley.

 Melissa Ingram (SNZ High Performance), 22, will contest the 100m and 200m backstroke, after breaking Anna Simcic’s 1991 record during the trials in the 200m.

 Glenn Snyders (SNZ High Performance), 20, has qualified in both the 100m and 200m breaststroke. Moss Burmester (SNZ High Performance), 26, has qualified in both the 100m and 200m butterfly, finishing fourth in last year’s world championship in the 200m and winning gold at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in the same event. Corney Swanepoel (SNZ High Performance), 22, has qualified in the 100m butterfly regaining his national record in the process. Helen Norfolk (SNZ High Performance), 26, established new national records in both the 200m and 400m individual medley at the trials. Liz Coster (SNZ High Performance), 24, qualified in the 100m backstroke and has been ranked in the top 10 in the world over that distance this year.

 New Zealand will also field a team in the women’s 4x200m freestyle relay and the men’s 4x100m medley relay. Daniel Bell (West Auckland Aquatics), 17, and Cameron Gibson (North Shore), 25, will join Snyders and Burmester in the men’s relay with Hayley Palmer (North Shore), 18, Lauren Boyle (West Auckland Aquatics), 20, and Natasha Hind (Capital Wellington), 18, joining Norfolk in the women’s combination.

A further relay team may be added when FINA consider the final four teams to earn an invitation for the men’s 4x100m freestyle relay.

 The team is:

Daniel Bell (West Auckland Aquatics) Medley Relay

Lauren Boyle (West Auckland Aquatics) Freestyle Relay

Moss Burmester (SNZ High Performance) 100m, 200m Butterfly

Elizabeth Coster (SNZ High Performance) 100m Backstroke

Cameron Gibson (North Shore) Medley relay

Natasha Hind (Capital Wellington) Freestyle relay

Melissa Ingram (SNZ High Performance) 100m, 200m Backstroke

Dean Kent (North Shore) 200m Individual Medley

Helen Norfolk (SNZ High Performance) 200m, 400m Individual Medley

Hayley Palmer (North Shore) Freestyle Relay

Glenn Snyders (SNZ High Performance) 100m, 200m Breaststroke

Corney Swanepoel (SNZ High Performance) 100m Butterfly