The 10K - A Labour of Love

Shelley Taylor-Smith caught up with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who was leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007, in Beijing.



Taylor-Smith encouraged the sports-loving Blair to go out to the Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park to cheer on the top British 10K swimmers including David Davies, Keri-Anne Payne and Cassandra Patten.

With Patten and Payne supported by Prime Minister Blair, Russia's Larisa Ilchenko cheered on by Vladimir Salnikov and Chloe Sutton with President Bush in her corner, it will be interesting to see what national flag will be flying highest during the awards ceremony.

Copyright © 2008 by World Open Water Swimming Association

Olympic Hero to Cheer on 10K Teammates

One of the greatest distance freestyles of all time, Vladimir Salnikov, was caught in Beijing by FINA Technical Open Water Swimming Committee Secretary-General, Shelley Taylor-Smith.

Salnikov will go out to the Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park to cheer on the current generation of great Russian distance swimmers: Vladimir Dyatchin, Larisa Ilchenko and Evgeni Drattsev.

Salnikov told Taylor-Smith that he wanted to cheer on the Russians and all the marathon swimmers for their efforts.

Salnikov was a 12-time world record holder and 4-time Olympic gold medalist who was the first person to swim under the 15-minute mark for the 1500-meter freestyle and under 8 minutes in the 800-meter freestyle.

Copyright © 2008 by World Open Water Swimming Association