Swimming ace Mark Foster has returned home from his FINA World Cup triumphs empty-handed - after giving his medals away to children watching the events.nnSwimming ace Mark Foster has returned home from his FINA World Cup triumphs empty-handed - after giving his medals away to children watching the events. The University of Bath Swimming Club member won an incredible six golds in the space of 10 days in the final three legs of the 2002/3 World Cup series. The big-hearted swimmer returned to training at the University of Bath today after winning the finals of the 50m butterfly and 50m freestyle in the World Cup series legs in Paris, Stockholm and Berlin. But after dominating the two sprint events, he gave his hard-won medals away to children watching the swimming meetings. Mark’s kind-hearted gesture only came to light when a local newspaper asked to take a photograph of him with his haul of gold medals. He said: ‘I keep the major medals I win, but I’ve been swimming competitively for quite a while now and I’ve got a fair few medals. If I’m not careful, they will begin to clutter up the house a bit. ‘A lot of children went to watch the World Cup series, and it will give them a real buzz to have a gold medal,’ he added. Mark said he feels in good shape this year - and his main aim for the season is to medal at the FINA World Championships in Barcelona in July. He was particularly pleased with his performances in the three European legs of the World Cup, where he progressively reduced his times in the finals of the two swimming strokes. But he missed out on one of his goals, which was to lower his own world record of 21.13 seconds in his favoured event, the 50m freestyle. He set that record at the World Cup in Paris two years ago. Mark said: ‘The most pleasing thing for me at the World Cup was that I was so consistent at every meet. My first final in Paris was the worst, but otherwise it was superb. The five other ones were as good as I had hoped for. ‘The encouraging thing is that I am not beating everyone off the blocks, like I used to, but I am beating them through the water now.’ As well as winning six gold medals, Mark also won three silvers in the earlier rounds of the series. He won one in the 50m butterfly at the second leg of the seven-leg series in New York in November, then took silvers in both the 50m butterfly and freestyle in Melbourne, Australia. The 6ft 6in athlete is one of Britain’s most successful swimmers of the last decade. He has competed in four Olympic Games and five Commonwealth Games, and has set numerous world, European, Commonwealth and British records. For further information please contact the Team Bath Press Office at Matchtight Ltd on (01225) 383518.