Goddard ready to match pal Parry

13 April 2012

First, the good news. Team GB are forging ahead of the mighty Seychelles - size of team apparently two - in the Olympic medals table here. Second, the even better news. A bloke who could have been eligible to win a medal in the swimming pool for the Indian Ocean minnows may well be claiming it for Britain tonight.

Somewhere on the islands, it would be grand to think of friends and relatives of young James Goddard cheering themselves hoarse about the prospect of a lad who was born there, now annexing an Olympic medal in Athens. They couldn't, though, possibly celebrate any gong for him as heartily as our largely ill-starred, successstarved British swimming team would.

Goddard enters the final of the 200m backstroke at the Olympic Aquatic Centre tonight as second fastest qualifier. Barring an act of God, the gold is going nowhere other than into the pocket of brilliant American Aaron Peirsol, but the silver could well be annexed by a 21-year-old who looks to be cut from the same cloth as his clubmate Stephen Parry.

Parry's bronze medal swim in the 200m butterfly on Tuesday remains the one shining stand-out in a fairly miserable week for the swimmers but now it's his young pal who is charged with taking on the baton.

Like Parry, Goddard swims for Stockport Metros. The pair live within 10 miles of each other in the M60 corridor, share the same coach Sean Kelly and describe themselves as a bit daft and outgoing. Now they fancy they can compare medals too.

Last night, Goddard even showed signs of the same big race temperament as his irrepressible colleague, who was hollering for him from the stands, as he smashed the British and Commonwealth record to surge into the final in 1min

What's different about the pair is the youngster's more exotic background.

Goddard's dad Jack is from the Seychelles and still lives there. James was born there and when he was five came to England with his mum Elizabeth following the parents' separation.

"I haven't been back to the Seychelles since I was 16 but it's a superb place to have a holiday and I've still got friends and family out there," he said.

European junior champ in 2001 and Commonwealth Games winner in his home town the following year, Goddard will now be asked by coach Bill Sweetenham to take the next substantial step forward because his team again need this sort of pick me up after the latest disappointment of the 4 x 200m freestyle women who had been genuine contenders.

Melanie Marshall, Georgina Lee, Caitlin McClatchey and Karen Pickering could only finish fifth in last night's final. They were left leagues behind an American quartet-who had just clocked 7min

53.42sec, breaking the oldest world record in the book, exactly 17 years to the day since it was set by an East German foursome.

It made you wonder exactly where the next swimming medal would come from. There are still a few prospects to come - like David Davies, the teenage Welsh 1500m freestyler who's ranked No3 in the world and Katy Sexton, the world 200m backstroke champ who was also in action in the heats today.

Yet Goddard looks as good a bet as any, not least because he could be given extra motivation tonight just to stay ahead of his main domestic rival, Gregor Tait, whose national record he nicked last night.

The Scot, who'd set the mark at the trials in April, responded with a time of 1:58.75 to qualify fifth fastest for tonight's final.

It raised the prospect of two gongs from the same race but in the current climate that, frankly, sounds as outlandish as the Seychelles leading the medal table.

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Goddard ready to match pal Parry

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