Powerhouse Australia sent a small but competitive squad for the upcoming 2007 Bangkok University Games, led by world-record holder Alice Mills and world silver- medalist Grant Brits.
"We have only 14 athletes to compete for almost all the 40 gold medals featured in this Games. It's a smaller squad compared to China's 24 and U.S.A.'s nearly 40 members, but we have a good enough team," said Australian swimming head coach Leigh Nugent.
Mills was a member of the women's 4x100m freestyle relay at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games when Australia broke the world record. She became one of the first Australian women to win the gold medal in nearly 50 years.
Representing the new breed of the Australian female swimmers, Mills had a great post-Athens performance in the Commonwealth Games and World Championships.
She was joined by Olympian teammate Michelle Engelsman, who will race in 50m and 100m freestyle.
In the male team, Brits from the Macquarie University, who won silver in 4x200m free at 2007 FINA World Championships, is aiming for gold medals in the men's 50m and 200m backstroke and will also compete in the 200m freestyle.
"Most of our first-team swimmers have to prepare for the Japanese Internationals starts on Aug. 21. Otherwise athletes like (Libby) Lenton and (Leisel) Jones might have been here for the competition," Nugent said.
"The Bangkok Universiade is an important competition as it's the last comprehensive world-level event before the 2008 Beijing Olympics. We'd like to send more elite swimmers here if their schedules are not so tight in the recent months," he added.
Source: Xinhua
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