T&T swimmer, George Bovell III is targeting the Central American and Caribbean Games (CAC) slated for Puerto Rico in July for a return to swimming backstroke and butterfly events. A bronze medal winner in the men's 200 metres individual medal at the Athens Greece Olympic Games in 2004, Bovell III was forced to quit the individual medley, butterfly and backstroke events later that year after tearing a posterior cruciate ligament in the left knee followed by a right shoulder injury some months later.
Because of the injuries, Bovell endured difficulty and much pain in turning at the wall during events and made the decision to stop competing in those races. He decided to focus on the 50 metres and 100 metres freestyle sprints. In his first international meet for T&T after the injury, the 2006 CAC Games in Cartegena, Colombia, Bovell swam to a gold (50 metres freestyle) and double bronze medals, (100m freestyle & 200m freestyle) to signal his arrival as a force among sprinters. However, four years on, the 26-year-old Bovell feels ready to revert to some of his previous strokes, but only for the CAC Games.
Bovell said he had been swimming the backstroke and butterfly for a some time now, but his focus had been on the freestyle sprints. "At the same time I'm also thinking along the lines of the games in Puerto Rico and I will be doing a lot more events there," he said. "At the CAC Games, there is more focus on medals won as a country and while normally I swim the 50 metres and 100 metres freestyle at this year's event I will be entering the 50 metres and 100 metres backstroke as well as the 50 metres butterfly."
He said: "The depth of the fields in those events are not all that strong and I'm very confident I will be able to medal and help T&T's medal tally overall." The top T&T swimmer and a double Pan Americans Games gold and silver medal winner, Bovell III added: "The level of the CAC competition will allow me to diversify my efforts a little more and I'm looking forward to it."
