Gorman Books Ticket to Beijing
06.05.2008

Queensland's Melissa Gorman created history in qualifying for the 2008 Olympic Games on Saturday 3 May with a 25th place finish in the FINA World 10km Open Water Championships in Seville, Spain.

The 10km Open Water Swim has been added to the program in Beijing for the first time and Gorman will be Australia’s only female representative along with Ky Hurst who finished 5th in the men’s event.

The Redcliffe distance swimmer booked her plane ticket to China by being the first Oceania swimmer home at the FINA World Championship event to claim a position in the inaugural open water race at the Olympic Games in August.

Gorman clocked 2 hours 3 minutes 18 seconds and was among the front runners throughout the race but fell towards the finish to touch 1 minute 15 seconds behind defending World Champion Larisa Ilchenko of Russia (2:02.02), with Britain's Cassandra Patten (2:02.05) second and Spain's Yurema Requena (2:02.07) third.

National Open Water head coach, Greg Towle admitted the result was a promising stepping stone for Gorman who will line up in Beijing in the 10km after previously missing a birth in the 800 metres freestyle by a fingernail.

"The important thing is Melissa has qualified for Beijing and she was right in the race until the final stages with this really being her first major international open water event at this level," Towle said.

Gorman has made the Noosa Blue Water Swim her own, winning for the past three consecutive years and never finishing worse than second, to Kate Brookes-Petterson in 2004.

Gorman will be home this week and is set to defend her Noosa Blue Water Swim title and looking for a fourth consecutive win in the 2km event.