Joe dreaming of London Olympics

Olympic water polo hopeful Joe O'Regan

WATER POLO: MAN mountain Joe O’Regan wants to hit the heights and achieve the “ultimate goal” by playing for Great Britain’s water polo team at the London 2012 Olympics.

The 20-year-old, 6ft 9in Royton man will find out on June 25 whether he has done enough to earn a place in the squad.

It looked a tall order when he started out at his home-town club seven years ago, but O’Regan is a regular fixture in the GB set-up and exclusion at this stage would be a shock.

“All I can do is keep my fingers crossed and hope I have made a big enough impression during my time with the squad,” he says.

“When I got into the sport in my early teens at Royton, it was a natural progression from swimming but I could never have imagined I would be in the mix for an Olympics in my own country.

“It is the ultimate goal for any sportsperson, becoming an Olympian and doing so in the capital.”

O’Regan and his colleagues fly out to Romania on Sunday for a seven-day training camp, which will be followed up by another week-long stint in France.

Those selected for Olympic duty will then turn their attention to a string of competitive fixtures in Dublin on July 2 and 3 as part of the final preparations for the main event.


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