British Swimming has scrapped funding to Stockport’s Grand Central swimming pool and removed its status as an Intensive Training Centre (ITC) after its budget was cut.
Following the 2008 Games in Beijing, ITCs were set up in Bath, Loughborough, Stirling, Swansea and Stockport to help swimmers with training, sports science and medical support.
Stockport will now have to work hard to find the £350,000 deficit after the governing body announced that it has to save £3.7m after a poor showing at London 2012.
British Swimming will still fund the other four ITCs and will offer support to the existing Stockport Metro Club.
“Our Olympic performance debrief gave a clear indication that the system underpinning swimming is world class and the ITCs at the heart of that system are clearly important,” said British Swimming chief executive David Sparkes.
“However, with significant budget cuts it has been necessary to look across the sport at savings and, while we’ve achieved considerable cost reductions in a number of areas already, it was inevitable that we should have to focus our more limited resources and operate with fewer ITCs.”
Stockport was the former base of Keri-Anne Payne, who won an open water silver medal at the Beijing Olympics in 2008, while Athens bronze medallist Steve Parry and James Hickman were two other Great Britain swimmers to have trained there.
Payne has relocated to Edinburgh, but in June said Stockport’s facilities were the best in the world.
The futures of coach Sean Kelly and Stockport’s two full-time swimmers, James Goddard and Russell Smith, are yet to be confirmed.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/swimming/21439807
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