T&T's Olympic bronze medal swimmer and four-time Sportsman of the Year award recipient George Bovell will return to action after a two-week break when he participates at the French Open Swimming Championship at the Stade aquatique Vichy Val d'Allier tomorrow and Sunday.A five-time Olympian and winner of two World Championship bronze medals, the 31-year-old Bovell III, will lead a contingent of elite-level swimmers from his Italian-based AND Swim Project under Andrea Di Nino.
They include Asian record holder Shinri Shioura, the most recent addition to the swim project, joining the crew just in May of this year. Last year, Shioura became the first Japanese man to break 22 seconds in the 50m freestyle while the other members of the team include Russians Evgeny Lagunov and Oleg Tikhobaev.
Belgian Francoi Heersbrandt, Ukrainian Andrey Govorov, and Greek swimmer, Kristian Gkolomeev, who has joined ADN for a camp on his way to Worlds in Kazan and will be competing in Vichy as part of their group.Last month, BovelI III opted to take a two-week break from competitive action after competing at the second-leg of the Aspira Swimming Cup in Turin, Italy as he continued his preparations for the Pan American Games which begins in in Toronto, Canada from July 14-18.
Back then Bovell III, a five-time Pan American Games medallist (two gold, two silver, one bronze) and also a five-time NCCA individual champion stated the other members of his team was not going to the meets at the Trofeo Rossini and Treviso Swim Cup (June 26-27), and he decided to take a much needed break as they just wanted to race enough to get better, and not get broken down before the World Championship in Kazan in August.
Prior to the Aspira Cup he had a disappointing outing at 52nd International Open Sette Colli Swimming Championship in Rome.