The following is a press release from Swimming Australia:
Swimming Australia has partnered with Aspetar in Doha, for a new Altitude Performance Program in the lead up to the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, as well as accessing the Aspire Zone facilities and services to be used as a training base ahead of this year’s World Short Course Championships in December, and the FINA World Championships in Kazan next year.
Internationally renowned, Aspetar provides athletes and coaches with clinical support, knowledge and facilities to maximise their training and competitive potential, as well as having a world class altitude chamber.
Swimming Australia CEO Mark Anderson said the partnership with Aspetar is another step towards instilling best practice and providing athletes and coaches with access to the right environments to train and prepare.
“Our Performance staff have looked at a number of options in this area, benchmarking best practice in the area of altitude research and performance, and this partnership with Aspetar will only enhance what we already have in place with the AIS and the state institutes and academies,” said Anderson.
“Geographically, it also makes good sense for us to have strong partnerships and good access to facilities in Doha, as a number of our teams will be competing in that part of the world over the next couple of years at World Championship events.”
Swimming Australia Performance Director Michael Scott says the partnership with Aspetar will enhance the sport’s ability to look at altitude studies and performance, as well as provide coaches and athletes with an alternate training base outside of competition, or leading into major events.
“The expertise, services and facilities at Aspetar are world class and in conjunction with our National Training Centre and the states, we are looking forward to maximising this as a training and research program over the next couple of years,” said Scott.
“As a team we’ll use Doha as a base later this year and then again in 2015, but we’ll also be looking to bring smaller groups of swimmers in for training and research as part of our Altitude Training Program.”
Swimmers from the Nunawading Podium Performance Centre, including world championship silver medallist Belinda Hocking, fellow Olympian and Ellen Gandy have just finished a training block in Doha accessing the expertise and services at the facility and their coach Rohan Taylor, says the set up at Aspetar is perfect to focus on process and performance.
“Over the years we’ve travelled all around the world for training and altitude camps, and the services and facilities here at Aspetar are certainly some of the best we’ve ever had access to,” said Taylor.
“To be able to come here for a short two week block of training and have access to the altitude chamber and research and medical staff has been a critical part of our preparation for the Commonwealth Games and Pan Pacs.”
Taylor’s group will return to Australia today ahead of the Grand Prix at the National Training Centre at the AIS on Friday 16 May.
Many elite sports teams and athletes regularly use Aspire Zone as their training base including European football champions Bayern Munich, Manchester United, Paris St Germain and Great Britain’s Olympic sporting teams.
In 2013, the Georgina Hope Swimmers Foundation Australian Junior team emerged on top of the medal table at the FINA Junior World Swimming Championships in Dubai, following four days of intensive training at Aspire Zone.
Constantly searching for the edge, Aspire Zone offers the most comprehensive campus for athletes in training.
