T&T's 2004 Athens Olympic bronze medallist George Bovell III placed fourth in the men's 100m Individual Medley final at the 10th Fina World Short Course Championships (25m), to miss out on a medal, yesterday.
This was on the final day of competition at the Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Sports Complex, Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The 27-year-old Bovell was in fifth spot after the first 50 metres with a split of 23.78 seconds to trail USA's Ryan Lochte (23.10), Russian Sergey Fesikov (23.27), Australian Kenneth To (23.41) and Germany's Markus Deibler (23.74).
However, over the final 50 metres, Bovell (28.19) was able to finish in a time of 51.97 for fourth, the first time he had gone under 52 seconds. Lochte won gold in 50.86 seconds to add to his triumphs in the 200 and 400m IM events also while Diebler took silver in 51.69 and Fesikov bronze in 51.81. It was the third time in his career that Bovell III had reached the final of an event at the World Short Course Swimming Championship without climbing the medal podium.The team has been accompanied by coaches Joseph Mc Leod and Shawn Pouchet, secretary of ASATT, Gary Morales and Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs, Anil Roberts, the coach of Bovell III.