Britain Top Diver had a successful weekend of competition at the FINA Grand Prix in
Rostock, winning five medals including one Gold and one Silver.

With just three optional dives to go in the men’s synchronised event, Leon Taylor and
Pete Waterfield were lying some 10pts off the pace, but three outstanding dives in
succession moved the pair through the field to win by 14.5pts. Ukraine, world Bronze 
medallists, finished second with Germany, the Olympic Bronze medallists, in third
place.

“It was a great result,” said Taylor, “especially as the standard was so tough. We really
had to win by a significant margin to show our class.”

Karen Smith and Monique McCarroll took Silver in the women’s platform synchro behind
the Germans, and Jane Smith dominated the preliminary and semi-final rounds of the
women’s 3m event, before eventually having to settle for a Bronze.

Two further Bronzes were added on the final day of competition, with Tony Ally and
Mark Shipman finishing third in the men’s 3m synchronised event and Waterfield
claiming his second medal of the weekend in the individual platform event.

                

                

City of Edinburgh breaststroker Kirsty Balfour produced the outstanding swim of the weekend to smash the 15 year-old Scottish 200m
breaststroke record of Jean Hill to take Gold in 2:30.78. The previous record of 2:31.57 had stood since the 1987 European
Championships in Strasbourg, and now sees Balfour hold all of the Scottish senior breaststroke records.

Four swimmers had already achieved pre-selection qualifying standards in 2001and Graeme Smith and Ian Edmond not only proved
their fitness but also looked in good form, gaining comfortable victories over 400m and 1500m freestyle and 200m breaststroke
respectively.

                
    

JASON GARDENER put 18 months of injury misery firmly behind him to retain the 60m crown at the European Indoor Athletics
Championships in Vienna on Sunday. Running 6.49s, Gardener equalled the championship best time he had set in Ghent two years
ago and consigned team-mate Mark Lewis-Francis to second place and the Silver medal.

The sprinters’ medals took Britain’s tally for the championships to seven – their best
return since 1989, when a team containing a certain Colin Jackson claimed nine.
Jackson, 35, was back in Vienna, inspiring the British squad to five medals on a 
glorious Saturday afternoon. Fending off the challenge of Austria’s Elmar Lichtenegger in
the final of the 60m hurdles, the Welshman grabbed the twelfth championship Gold of his
rejuvenated career.

BRITAIN’S FIVE-MEDAL haul on day two was completed by Christian Malcolm and
Ashia Hansen, winning Silver medals in the 200m and triple jump respectively, and
Michael East and team captain John Mayock, who took Bronzes in the 1,500m and
3,000m.

Karen Nisbit and Kirsty Thomson also achieved qualifying marks in the 400m freestyle and 200m backstroke respectively.

THE ENGLAND and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and Sport England have confirmed
that the permanent site of the new ECB National Academy will be Loughborough
University -an English Institute of Sport (EIS) site, part of the UK Sports Institute
network.

Following meetings of Sport England’s Council and the ECB’s Management Board,
a budget of £4m was approved for the capital costs of the project. These include the
development of residential accommodation as well as for the building of a new indoor
cricket centre. Building work on the facilities will begin as soon as possible although
no time-scale has yet been set for the completion.

Trevor Brooking, Chair of Sport England added: “The ECB’s decision to develop the
National Cricket Academy at Loughborough has been formally supported by the
Sport England Lottery Panel and  the Sports Council and  will  become a welcome
addition  to the English  Institute of  Sport’s network of  high performance training
facilities.
“Sport England has already invested over £21m at Loughborough University to create a major regional base for the EIS by funding world
class facilities for swimming, hockey, netball, badminton, gymnastics and athletics.”

DUNCAN FLETCHER, England Head Coach, will reveal his philosophy for identifying and developing
success when he addresses Cricket Live 2001 - the England & Wales Cricket Board's (ECB) World
Cricket Coaches Conference and Exhibition - which opens at the Telford International Centre today.

Fletcher will be just one of many world-renowned cricket coaches and ex-players of England.

Cricket Live 2001 aims to build on the success of its inaugural event in 1999 when over 2000
coaches from 32 countries were entertained and educated by the some of the world's best coaches.
It was the largest cricket coach-education event ever staged. 

Hugh Morris, ECB Performance Director, commented: "Coaching clearly plays a vital role in the
development of cricket and Cricket Live 2001 will make a huge impact on our coaching community.
The event promises to act as a further impetus in the ECB's mission to create the best coach -
education structure in the world, and in our aim to develop the English coaches of the future.

Women's cricket is run by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), which merged with the Women's
Cricket Association (WCA) in April 1998. 

This has strengthened the ECB's ability to encourage the provision of more facilities, and more playing 
opportunities, for women and girls with a strategic, co-ordinated approach.

County Boards and County Development Officers are taking the lead in encouraging and promoting women's
and girls' cricket. Some Counties are taking on additional County Development Officers with special
responsibility for women's cricket.

The appointments come as the numbers involved in the women's game increases. There has been an eight
percent rise in the number of clubs, resulting in a 19 per cent rise in the number of women playing cricket
since 1998.

The number of primary school girls involved has increased from 354,000 to 433,000 and secondary school figures have increased from
139,000 to 174,400. The latest opportunity to combine improving cricket while studying for a degree at the six University Centres of
Excellence is attracting women as well as men.

Many women's sides are part of men's clubs, many more are independent although a growing number of men's clubs are setting up
women's teams.

There is a strong league structure from county, through regional to the National Premier League with an annual system of promotion
and relegation. Some clubs play evening league cricket, others concentrate on weekend fixtures, some play both.

Girls also play Kwik Cricket, a shortened form of the game, which introduces youngsters to cricket and promotes their interest in
taking up the sport.
The women's game at junior level now runs on the same age groups as the men's.

MacLean, riding at the Olympics in Sydney won the prestigious Dansk Bicycle Club
Grand Prix at the Ballerup Arena near Copenhagen on Sunday.


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BRITAIN’S CRAIG MACLEAN