Nine swimmers, including three from Dunedin, were named to represent New Zealand at the Paris Olympics at an official announcement at Moana Pool yesterday.
World champion Erika Fairweather is off to her second Olympic Games and this time she will be joined by fellow Dunedin swimmers Kane Follows - whose parents booked last-minute flights from Auckland to surprise their son - and Caitlin Deans.
As the group were embraced by their family and friends pool-side, Dunedin swimmer Danyon Loader looked down on them.
Loader, who trained in Dunedin under Duncan Laing at Moana Pool and now has a pool named after him, won double-gold at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996.
Swimming New Zealand chief executive Steve Johns called it fitting for the team to walk the same hallways as an Olympic champion.
"This swimming pool itself in some respects is the spiritual home in swimming in New Zealand given the gentleman who’s up on the wall behind me and the legacy that he has left in swimming," Johns said.
"I’m sure that many of the swimmers here today think of what Danyon did in 1996 and strive for that now, so to be here ... to announce our Olympic team is really special for us as a sport."
Dunedin coach Lars Humer has also been selected as one of the national coaches for his second Olympics.
