Hythe Aqua Swimming Club marked their return to Hythe Pool by hosting an Olympic Night with guest Olympian James Goddard last week. James made his Great Britain debut in 2000 and at his first Commonwealth Games in 2002 won 200m Backstroke gold and 200m Individual Medley silver.
At his debut Olympics two years later he won his 200m backstroke semi final, but finished an agonising fourth place in the final, 0.2 sec off the medals while at Beijing 2008 he was sixth in the individual medley.
He was one of British swimming’s most consistent performers and finished fourth at the World Championships in 2011 before coming seventh in London 2012 and then retiring a year later.
James spent three hours at the Hythe Aqua Club starting off working with the Club Teachers during the Clubs Nationally Accredited Learn to Swim Scheme sessions, where he worked with club members from learner pool to pre-squad level.
James later Coached over 60 swimmers from the Clubs Junior and Senior Competitive Squads for a two-hour session demonstrating technical skills across all four strokes, worked on starts and turns and finished the coaching session with some fun sprint work.
All Club Members enjoyed the experience of working with and learning from one of GB’s great Olympians and all club swimmers were provided with an opportunity to view James’s medals and have their photograph taken with James. The Clubs hopes to get James back for a longer training camp at a future date.
What a brilliant Olympic Night at Club. Olympic Star James Goddard and his team were excellent during their 3 hours at club. The Teaching Groups really enjoyed their time with James and the joint squad session worked really well. Don't forget the streamlining and breatstroke turn coaching - also practice the goggle throwing!!!!
James Francis Goddard is a Seychelles-born British competitive swimmer and backstroker who represented Great Britain in the Olympics, FINA world championships and European championships, and swam for England in the Commonwealth Games.
now we have to the goggle challenge at each session to win the Olympic Hat
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