From
the archive, first published Wednesday 6th Sep 2006.
Swindon Dolphin
received an early season boost at the start of a new campaign with Commonwealth swimmer Chris
Jones putting pen to paper in the latest transfer coup
for the Milton Road-based club.
In
March this year, Jones represented
at the Commonwealth Games in
,
having previously reached two national finals to attain the qualifying standard to
make the national team.
He qualified
for the final of the 50 metres breaststroke, finishing 10th, a proud achievement at
his first Games, but the pinnacle came with bronze medal as a team member of the men’s
4 x 100 metres medley relay team.
Jones returned
to
all set for a promising career in accountancy having accepted a post with one of the
big four accountancy practices.
However, Scottish
head coach, Chris Martin saw a bright future ahead for the former
of
swimmer.
So Jones was
faced with the agonising decision of accepting a new career in accountancy or pursuing
his dreams of reaching the GB team.
Initially,
Jones combined accountancy with swimming, which saw the 24-year-old train at nine
clubs in just four months as his career took him across the south of
.
Despite the
obvious difficulties, Jones found that he was able to match the times set in his previous
two national finals and he realised that if he was to concentrate fully on his swimming
career then his meteoric rise was almost certain to continue.
Jones was
faced with three possible options, including two centres of excellence at renowned
performance clubs, or staying closer to home under the watchful eye of Dolphin chief
coach Andi Manley.
The Scottish
Head Coach was impressed with the training programme at Swindon Dolphin and confirmed
that Jones could reach his full potential based at
.
Jones has
now set himself the target of reaching the GB team in 2008.
Scottish Swimming
will continue to support him in his quest to reach the top with training camps and
overseas competitions.
From
the archive
http://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk
© Newsquest Media Group 2006
