Bree finds silver lining in the cloud

Irish swimming yesterday stepped out of its tattered clothes when Andrew Bree claimed Ireland's first silver medal at this level since Gary O'Toole's effort in Bonn in 1989. Learn his name, the 22-year-old from Helen's Bay, just 20 minutes outside Belfast, is now a prospect for next year's Olympic Games in Athens.

Bree used every shaved-down and tapered-up inch of his 6ft 6ins frame and in the end his finger tip was the distance between second place and fifth in the final of the men's 200 metres breaststroke.

Britain's Ian Edmond had enough time to win the race with a new European record mark of 2:05.63 and look around to see who was coming second. It could have been any of five swimmers as Bree's new Irish record time of 2:08.02 was only fractionally quicker than sixth-placed Russian Dmitry Komornikov's 2:08.61.

"It was good fun especially in front of a home crowd," said Bree after the race. "In the back of my mind I was going for it. It was such a top-class field I really didn't know what was going to happen. Both myself and my coach JT (Trembley) talked about it between the two swims (morning heats and final). He told me to keep a long, smooth 50 metres. If you count my strokes I'll guarantee you they are less than anyone else's. I was using my height to my advantage."

Bree's was the first European medal won in Irish water. And apart from O'Toole, who earned his silver over a long course, and Michael Williamson's bronze medal in a World Student Games, no other Irish male swimmer has won a medal at senior international level.

It will also, for the moment at least, serve to move the sport on more positively towards next year's Olympic Games. All the swimmers in Dublin have been hoping for an indication that their training and progression in the pool will inexorably lead towards Athens. Bree's silver was an intoxicating reassurance of his ability.

"It really puts us back on the international scene. It's quite a while since the likes of Gary O'Toole in 1989 won a medal in the European long course," said Irish team coach Ger Doyle. "It is something we have been striving to achieve for a long time. We've had a very, very troublesome time and it has also come out of a competition that's being held in Dublin. That's incredible. We've had so many different problems in the past . . . it really lifts the whole scene in swimming."

Bree's placing was two places better than in the last European Championships when he finished just outside the medals. Now based in Tennessee and training in the US collegiate system under Trembley, he broke the Irish record when he qualified for the finals with a time of 2:09.60 before going on to smash it by over a second and a half with his final effort.

"To swim like that in front of the home crowd was fantastic," he said. "It reminded me of the Olympic Games in Australia when the home crowd were cheering on Ian Thorpe. I really enjoyed it. My mother and father, Ann and Barney, and sister Elizabeth and brothers David and Denis were here. Aye, they were all down."

It was the first event of its kind staged in Dublin, and Swim Ireland and sponsors Fáilte Ireland hope to attract other major swimming events to Dublin and have, in the short term, targeted the European Diving Championships for 2005.

However, the day belonged to the Ulster man and the large Irish squad, who presented their biggest team ever at this championships. The 12 Irish athletes was double the usual number for such a championship.

"He (Bree) can go absolutely anywhere. This is only the start of what he is capable of. Olympics? Who knows? That swim doesn't qualify him for the Olympics. He still has to achieve the times long course. But it shouldn't be a problem for him," said Doyle.