Olympic stars to attend Dannevirke swim meet

Rebecca Moynihan, 17, and Phoebe Nelson, 15, are both champions in their respective 50m free.

There will be an Olympic feel at Sunday's swim meet in Dannevirke with double Olympian Daniel Bell swimming and fellow Olympian Jon Winter there as coach of the Raumati Raptors.

This is the first time Winter and the Raptors have been to a swim meet at Dannevirke's AMP Wai Splash and Winter is bringing with him a team of high-achieving swimmers, including Dannevirke's own Phoebe Nelson.

Winter has coached Nelson for the past two years.

"That girl has got massive potential. She's athletic, tall and strong and we just need to find a routine for her to be sustainable in her training," he told the Dannevirke News.

"We are probably at the stage of looking at what to do with Phoebe as she prepares to leave school, because it's a long way from Raumati to Dannevirke."

Winter said he's different from other coaches.

"We do things differently from other squads, but Dannevirke is so far away for Phoebe it's tough. But I think she could go on and be a great swimmer."

Phoebe and her Raumati Raptors team will compete for the Marie Nelson Memorial 40x50 freestyle relay trophy.

"Phoebe is the granddaughter of Marie Nelson and I've told the team we're going to win the trophy. We've a pretty good team," Winter said.

Double Olympian Bell was forced into retirement, but now coaches in Clive.

"We got together six months ago and Daniel will be fantastically fast, so it'll be a great day for spectators," Winter said.

Along with Daniel, Rebecca Moynihan, the current national age group title holder for the 50 metre and 100m freestyle events, will be in Dannevirke, with Tawhiti Temomo, the second fastest in the Raumati Club in the 50 freestyle event. Bell, Moynihan, Temomo and Nelson will be the Raptors' freestyle relay team.

"It's exciting to have these guys at our local pool," Trudi Smith said.

* The swim meet begins at 1pm.