The East Kent Swimming Association recently funded an Olympic Athlete Training Day. The event was held at Kingsmead Pool Canterbury and was supported by GB swimmers Chris Cook and Mel Marshall.

Mel Marshall was ranked number one in the world in 2004 after breaking the British 200m freestyle record to ensure selection to the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. At the 2008 Short Course World Championships in Manchester, she came third as part of the British women's 4×100 m freestyle relay team. Melanie claimed a further six medals at the 2006 Commonwealth Games.


Chris Cook is a specialist breaststroker, and took gold in the 50m and 100m metre finals representing England at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne. He also competed for Great Britain at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens He represented Great Britain at the 2008 Summer Olympics in the 100 m breaststroke event.


Six members of Hythe Aqua swimming squads were selected to attend the Olympic Training Day following their excellent performances at the East Kent Swimming Championships held in the autumn of 2009. The Hythe Aqua swimmers selected were Grace Walker, Natalie Wyborn, Jessica Saunders, James Hulbert, Abbey West & Isabel Adams. All the Hythe swimmers really enjoyed their training day with the top athletes and learnt a lot from the event. The training consisted of dry land and pool base sessions and also involved the Olympic Swimmers in practical demonstrations.