Olympian forced to pay his own way (From Bucks Free Press)

Olympian forced to pay his own way

9:47am Friday 3rd September 2004 in Wanderers By Joe Slade

SIMON Burnett had to pay to fly back to take part in the Olympic closing ceremony after competing in the British Short-Course Championships in Manchester last week.

The British swimming squad - including Burnett - all had to travel back to take part in the short-course championships but no provision was made to let the swimmers rejoin the Olympic party in Athens on the Sunday when the final curtain came down on the Olympic Games.

And that meant Burnett, who smashed the British record on the way to the 200m freestyle final, had to fork out money to rejoin the rest of Team Britain.

Burnett was one of five members of Wycombe District Swimming Club who competed at the Manchester meeting, with the 21-year-old breaking two personal bests.

First, the former John Hampden student broke the Berks & South Bucks county record on the way to finishing second in the 50m backstroke final. And then he reached the semi-final of the 100m butterfly with another pb.

Alex Vine maintained his consistent run of form in national championships by making the final of the 100m individual medley.

James Crawford, 15, produced two personal bests in the 100m backstroke and 200m individual medley.

And Scott Mudge, 16, and Jeni Howard, 15, took part in the 50m backstroke and 200m backstroke respectively.