PRESS RELEASE
(Ottawa, June 12, 2001) - Swimming/Natation Canada (SNC), the national sport governing body for Canadian swimming, is pleased to announce the opening of its newest national swimming centre at the Etobicoke Swim Club in Toronto.

The Southern Ontario National Swimming Centre (SONSC) opens its doors this week to top-level national swimmers who wish to train in the Southern Ontario region in pursuit of international excellence. Combining world-class coaching support and athletes services, the Toronto centre is the seventh national swimming centre to open since 1994, in an effort to strengthen the high performance delivery system for swimming in Canada.

In addition to providing training and coaching support, swimmers at the centre will be offered services and support in strength training, sport medicine, sport science, as well as paramedical support services such as massage, chiropractic care, physiotherapy and nutritional counselling. All programs will be designed to help swimmers succeed in their pursuit of international excellence.

"Toronto represents a demographic that is integral to the continued development of swimming in Canada," says Ken Radford, acting executive director for Swimming/Natation Canada. "To assist in the provision of focus and support for our national level swimmers in the area is critical to the enhancement of Canada's profile at the international level." National swimming centres are now established in Toronto, Kitchener-Waterloo, Montreal, Victoria, Vancouver, Calgary and Winnipeg.

The Toronto centre will be open to highly ranked national and provincial swimmers who meet the pre-determined SNC national centre criteria.