Emily facing tough choice

SWIMMER Emily McNeill admits she has a dilemma as to which country to represent as she bids to break into the big time.

As the 15-year-old strives to qualifying for the 2010 Commonwealth Games and Olympics in London two years later, she has to choose between Australia and England.

Emily may have been born on the Gold Coast and lived her entire life in Australia, but there is a gravitational pull towards her parents’ birthplace.

Father Paul’s family still live in Failsworth and mother Christine hails from South Wales - they went to Australia on holiday 22 years ago and decided to stay - which means Emily can swim for either.

“I honestly don’t know which country I will swim for as Australia is my home but I love England,” she explained.

Emily, who competes in the 400m, 800m and 1500m freestyle, has already come close to achieving a qualifying time for the 400m for the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi.

“I am only 0.4seconds from qualifying for the 400m and I am confident I can reach it in time for the Commonwealth Games,” she continued.

Emily, who also has her sights set on the 2012 Olympics in London and 2014 Commonwealths in Glasgow, has already won two medals at the Queensland State championship and competed against Emily Seebohm, who is representing Australia in the Beijing Olympics.

And she trains alongside British Olympic swimmers David Davies and Richard Charlesworth, who spend much of the winter training on the Gold Coast.

Emily, who competes for Southport-based TSS Aquatics, says it is great experience training alongside top swimmers and she has picked up many tips from them.

She says the great beauty of training on the Gold Coast is that most of the time is spent in outside pools due to the hot climate.

That still entails nine two-hour training sessions each week which also includes gym work and running.

And that means Emily and her father Paul, a finance manager for a subsidiary of Rabobank Bank, are early risers as she is in the pool for 5.20am each day for two hours before heading for school. There is a further two hours training after her lessons have ended.

“I am very proud of Emily as she is very disciplined in both her training and also her school work,” explained mother Christine.

Emily, who has been training with the Manchester Swim Team while visiting her grandparents in Failsworth, must have inherited a swimming gene from her father as Paul, a former student at Cardinal Langley School and Oldham College, was a decent swimmer and a reserve for Lancashire Schools.

And Emily’s 10-year-old sister Charlotte is also a talented breaststroke swimmer.

Christine added that Emily, Charlotte and son Sean were taught to swim at an early age primarily for safety reasons.

“There are so many pools that I wanted them to be able to swim in case they fell in. Things have taken off from there and all three have got better and better,” added Christine.