SWIMMERS DEFY THE ODDS

Newcastle still hasn’t got a 50m pool but the lack of world class facilities hasn’t stopped swimmers making a splash on the international stage.

Former Newcastle University medical student Kevin Boyd was the 1989 Sports Personality after the freestyler won silver and bronze at the Commonwealth Games.

In the late nineties, Susan Rolph picked up the city’s top award two years running as she won double Commonwealth Games Gold, plus World and European titles.

A decade later, 2008 Sports Personality Chris Cook repeated the Commonwealth double in the breaststroke sprints.

Both Rolph and Cook were products of the phenomenal success achieved by City of Newcastle Swimming Coach Ian Oliver, who received the Wilkinson Sword the same year as Cook. Sport Newcastle has regularly granted aid to the club’s top talents.