Sweetenham stands down

British Swimming have announced that Bill Sweetenham has stood down as national performance director.

Sweetenham wrote to British Swimming chief executive David Sparkes in December stating his intention not to renew his contract after next year's Beijing Olympics.

After recent talks it was agreed that he should step down now, with Sparkes saying: "Bill leaves British Swimming with our best wishes."

He added: "We asked him to join British Swimming following the Sydney Olympics in 2000 when our records were at a low ebb.

"Since then his whole approach to international competitive swimming has revitalised the fortunes of the national squad and had exactly the effect and impact that we hoped it would across the sport in the UK."