POSTED: Friday June 15th 2012
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WRESTLER ADDED TO TEAM GB & SWIMMER WITHDRAWN DUE TO INJURY

The British Olympic Association (BOA) has today confirmed the freestyle wrestling athlete who will compete for Team GB at the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Olga Butkevych was nominated to the BOA for selection to Team GB by British Wrestling and will compete in the 55kg weight class this summer at the ExCeL, on the 9th August.

The 26-year-old has an impressive international record, and claimed bronze at the European Championships in Dortmund last year. She will be looking to reproduce the form she displayed at the Olympic Test Event at the ExCeL last December, where she won the silver medal.

On her selection to Team GB, Olga Butkevych said:
“I am extremely honoured, and proud, to be selected to represent Team GB at London 2012. I can assure everyone I will be working extremely hard between now and the Olympic competition to be competitive, and to be in the hunt to win Britain a medal at the Games. I won silver at the Test event last year, and it would be wonderful if I can be on the podium for the real thing!
“I would like to take this opportunity to thank Performance Director Shaun Morley, and the coaching team at British Wrestling, for all their support since I started representing Britain. It is thanks to their support and patience that I have achieved this honour, and I cannot begin to say how much I appreciate it.
“Wrestling is a great sport, and I hope that more and more people will realise that when competition at the Olympics gets underway. I hope that I can help it grow in the UK, and help it benefit from all the plans for an Olympic legacy that British Wrestling have been working so hard to achieve."

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The BOA has also confirmed today that swimmer Dan Sliwinksi has withdrawn from the Team GB swimming squad due to injury, which has ruled him out of competing at the London 2012 Olympic Games.  Sliwinski had been selected to compete in the men’s 100m Breaststroke. A new athlete will be selected to Team GB for the 100m Breaststroke event following the second round of trials which take place in Sheffield between the 20th and 23rd June at the ASA National Championships.
The 22-year-old Stockport ITC swimmer suffered a shoulder tendon injury and will undergo surgery next week before beginning a three-month rehabilitation programme managed by British Swimming.

Speaking about his withdrawal from Team GB, Dan Sliwinski said:
“It is an athlete’s worst nightmare. I have had a couple of injuries and I need to go back and rebuild the foundations. I am still young enough to think about Rio 2016, but I need to address this injury before it gets worse.

“I still want to swim for as long as I am physically able to and this operation will help with that. The important thing I need to focus on now is my recovery.”

Notes to Editors:
• With today’s announcements, 247 athletes have officially been selected to Team GB for the London 2012 Olympic Games: 1 freestyle wrestler, 5 eventing riders, 9 sprint canoeists, 18 cyclists, 10 fencers, 10 boxers, 12 divers, 5 weightlifters, 4 modern pentathletes, 6 triathletes, 4 taekwondo athletes, 47 rowers, 4 badminton players, 11 shooting athletes, 6 table tennis players, 16 women’s hockey players, 6 archers, 6 marathon runners, 5 slalom canoeists, 16 sailors, 37 swimmers and 9 synchronised swimmers.
• Team GB will compete in all 26 sports on the Olympic Programme in London 2012.
• Team GB is expected to consist of approximately 550 athletes.

For interview requests with British Wrestling athletes and performance personnel contact British Wrestling Press Officer Peter Jones on 07841 997408 / pj@red-alert-media.net.

For interview requests with British Swimming athletes and performance personnel contact British Swimming Press Officer Ruth Norfolk on 07917 794382 / ruth.norfolk@swimming.org.

For further information on Team GB please contact BOA Communications Officer Phil Wilkinson on 07525 951067 / philip.wilkinson@teamgb.com.

The British Olympic Association (BOA) is the National Olympic Committee for Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Its mission is to transform British lives through the power of the Olympic values and the success of Team GB. The BOA’s role is to prepare the ‘Best of British’ athletes for, and lead them at, the summer, winter and youth Olympic Games. The BOA delivers extensive support services to Britain’s Olympic athletes and their National Governing Bodies to enhance Olympic success and is responsible for championing the Olympic values and brand in the UK. The BOA receives no funding from the lottery or government, has no political interests and is completely dependent upon fundraising income to achieve its mission. The BOA is the strong, independent voice for British Olympic Sport.

British Wrestling is the National Governing Body for Freestyle and Greco Roman Wrestling in the UK.

British Swimming is the National Governing Body for Swimming, Diving, Synchronised Swimming, Water Polo and Open Water in Great Britain. It is responsible internationally for the high performance representation of the sport. The members of British Swimming are the three Home Countries national governing bodies of England (ASA), Scotland (Scottish ASA) and Wales (Welsh ASA). British Swimming seeks to enable its athletes to achieve gold medal success at the Olympics, Paralympics, World Championships and Commonwealth Games.

About Team 2012:

Team 2012, presented by Visa, is the official support programme for British athletes striving to be selected for Team GB and ParalympicsGB in 2012.

Alongside National Lottery and Exchequer funding, Team 2012 helps to raise funds to support 1,200 athletes from 47 Olympic and Paralympic sports and disciplines who are in training to be selected for Team GB and ParalympicsGB at London 2012. Funds raised are invested in six key areas across 47 different Olympic and Paralympic sporting disciplines:

Coaching and athlete management
International travel to both compete and train abroad
Medical support including sports psychology, physiotherapy, nutrition and intensive rehabilitation
Facilities
Kit and equipment
Home Games preparations e.g. preparation camps

For more information on Team 2012, visit http://www.team-2012.com

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Keywords · British Olympic Association · BOA

Name: British Olympic Association Communications Team
Organization: British Olympic Association
Email:
Phone: 442078425700
URL: http://www.olympics.org.uk

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