Swimming: Boyle makes splash for more funding

Lauren Boyle.

A Spaniard, an Australian and a Brit walk into Swimming New Zealand and one of the country's weakest sporting organisations claims a first medal at a long course world championships in 19 years.

No joke, this could be reality tomorrow morning, or perhaps by August 4 when the latest edition of the biennial meet finishes in Barcelona.

Spanish high performance director Luis Villanueva arrived in January, Australian chief executive Christian Renford in March and British head coach David Lyles in May. The trio have been learning on the job and against the clock with SNZ on a one-year post-Olympic trial with $1.4 million added to the governing body's high performance budget (a drop from the $1.65 million received each year of the previous Games cycle).

The television show would be called Extreme Aquatic Makeover; its film equivalent would be Major League.

The reality is New Zealand has one genuine medal prospect; Lauren Boyle in the 400m and 800m freestyle. The trio can't take credit for her achievements as the spearhead to any renaissance, but sensibly much of the budget (racing in Europe and an altitude camp in Spain) has been channelled towards her needs.

If Boyle was to make a podium it would be one of the more remarkable achievements in New Zealand sport, even in a post-Olympic year.

If she breaks the cycle of underachievement, it could be the catalyst towards further success.

Courtesy of Boyle's Olympic performance, a tentative reprieve was possible. She came fourth in the 800m freestyle with a personal best, 2.4s from bronze.

Boyle further helped restore the sport's reputation at December's short-course (25m pool) world championships in Turkey by claiming gold in the 800m (New Zealand's first since Moss Burmester in the 200m butterfly in 2008) and bronze in the 400m.

After years of controversy within SNZ's administrative and competitive ranks, one swimmer had started to break the shackles of mediocrity.