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Top New Zealand swimmer Alison Fitch has decided to call it quits and was to swim her last meet at the New Zealand Open championships in Christchurch today, after more than a decade at the top.
Fitch, 27, has owned the New Zealand 100m freestyle title after first springing to prominence in 1995 when she was selected for the Pan Pacific championships at age 15.
She competed in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and 1998 world championships before her form faded, missing selection for the Sydney Olympics in 2000.
Under new coach Jan Cameron, she recaptured her form qualifying for the Barcelona world championships in 2003. Since then Fitch has qualified for every major international meet including the Athens Olympics in 2004 and Melbourne Commonwealth Games last year, where she guided the relay teams to a bronze in the 4x200m freestyle and fourth placings in the 4x100m freestyle and medley relay finals.
Swimming New Zealand chief executive Paul Veric hoped Fitch would take up a role to help develop the sport.
"She has great skills and I would like to think she can continue to play a significant part in our development out of the water," he told the Sunday Star-Times.
- NZPA
