George Bovell pulls out swim finals

KINGSTON: Trinidad and Tobago’s George Bovell, the English-speaking Caribbean’s best swimming medal hope at the Olympics next month in Greece, withdrew from the final of the 50-metre breaststroke and 200-metre backstroke events at the 15th Caribbean Islands Swimming Championships (CISC) at the National Stadium Pool on Monday night.

Bovell withdrew after feeling discomfort in his left arm. He is currently number one in the world (short course) rankings for the 200-metre individual medley with his season’s best one minute 53.93 seconds, ahead of the outstanding American Michael Phelps. TT’s Matt Houllier set a new record when he won the Boys 18-and-over 400-metre freestyle gold in 4:12.87. Grenada’s Tuesday Watts and Jamaican Alia Atkinson also set new marks on the penultimate evening of competition at the meet.  Watts sped to a 4:42.67 clocking to land the Girls’ 11-12 400-free, and Atkinson scored in the Girls 15-17 50-breaststroke in 33.43 seconds.

Jamaican Olympian Janelle Atkinson registered her fourth gold medal triumph also at the CISC on Monday. Competing in the event that brought her a fourth place finish at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Atkinson won the Girls’ 18-and-over 400-metre freestyle in an Olympic “B” qualifying time of four minutes 21.87 seconds. The Puerto Rican duo of Gretchen Gotay (4:29.16) and Vanessa Martinez (4:39.14) finished second and third respectively, and helped keep their team soaring at the top of the standings. Puerto Rico have 980 points to lead the standings, ahead of Trinidad and Tobago (799.5),  hosts Jamaica (705), the Dominican Republic (420), and The Bahamas (324).