australian swimming 93rd annual report 2001/2002

clementine stoney
2001 Female Backstroke Swimmer of the Year
Victoria
We had a changing of the guard at Swimming
Victoria over the past twelve months with
President, Peter Foard sadly passing away and
Country Director, Bob Carmichael retiring after
more than thirty years in the role. Peter is sadly
missed whereas we look forward to seeing Bob
on pooldeck for a while to come.
The Open and Age swimming season began in
June of 2001, with Swimming Victoria hosting
the 2001 World Championship Australian
Swimming Team for the weekend. The Grand
Prix was a success with team members churning
out some great warm up swims for Japan.
Matt Welsh was crowned World Champion in
the Men’s 100m Backstroke at the 2001 FINA
World Championships. This made Matt the first
home trained Victorian Long Course World
Champion. Matt also won a gold medal in the
Men’s 4 x 100m Medley Relay, and Bronze in
the Men’s 50m Backstroke. Representatives
who finalled at the World Championships
included Ray Hass, Brooke Hanson, Michael
Klim, Lori Munz, Michelle Engelsman and
Sarah Jane-D’Arcy. Swimming Victoria was also
represented out of the pool in Team Coach Ian
Pope (Matt Welsh) and Team Manager David
Wilson. We were sad to see Sarah Jane D’Arcy
retire after the World Championships from a
career lasting seven years at the international
level including the 2000 Olympic Games.
The Australian Team flew straight out of
Fukuoka into Perth for the 2001 Australian
Short Course Nationals and World Short
Course Championships Selection Trials.
Victorians fared very well at the meet, with
perennial winners strutting their stu≈. Brooke
Hanson won three National Championships,
Lori Munz won two and Matt Welsh won three.
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Michael Klim, Ray Hass and Sarah Kasoulis all
won medals. The meet unearthed two bright
stars in Victoria’s swimming future—Sarah
Kasoulis (Carey Aquatic) and Tayliah Zimmer
(Warrnambool). Sarah’s two bronze medals in
the 50m and 100m Breaststroke were her first
at an Australian Open, and Tay swam her way
onto the Victoria Open Team for the New York
Tour in December 2001.
Swimming Victoria sent a team of four
comprised of Brooke Hanson, Nathan Crook,
Tayliah Zimmer and Coach Ross Price to the
2001 US Open Championships and 2001 New
York World Cup. The team provided some
astonishing results, with Brooke winning her
regular bag of medals and Nathan finalling in
many events. But the surprise of the tour
belonged to Tayliah Zimmer, the 16 year old
backstroker from Warrnambool. Tay proved she
was a force to be reckoned with, swimming into
second place in the 200m backstroke, placing
her sixth on the All Time Australian Times list.
Things certainly look bright for the youngster.
Things were fairly quiet on the National front
until December, until Melbourne hosted the
2001 Telstra World Cup at the Melbourne
Sports and Aquatic Centre (MSAC). It was a
great meet and saw the second World Record
to be set at MSAC. Geo≈ Huegill broke the 50m
Butterfly World Record on the Saturday night.
Victoria had a very large contingent of
swimmers, providing them with a standard of
competition that has, can and will take them to
the next level of their competitive career. The
Telstra World Cup provides the opportunity for
Victoria’s and Australia’s swimmers to get