With six months to rescheduled Tokyo Olympic Games, scholar Tom Dean is looking to write own chapter in Bath swimming success story

With exactly six months to go until the rescheduled Tokyo Olympic Games are due to begin, Tom Dean believes the delay could work in his favour as he seeks to follow in the wake of some celebrated University of Bath-based swimmers. It is 25 years since Paul Palmer became the first sportsperson to bring an Olympic medal back to the Team Bath pool, a 400m freestyle silver in Atlanta, and another 11 swimmers and five...

23 January 2021

Celebrating 25 years of Olympic and Paralympic success at Team Bath – first medallist explains why centre was “ahead of its time”

We are celebrating 25 Years Of Success at Team Bath this year, with 2021 marking a quarter-of-a-century since the first of what is now a magnificent 48 Olympic and Paralympic medals was won by an athlete who trained at our inspirational multi-sport facility. It was swimmer Paul Palmer who had that accolade, winning 400m freestyle silver at the Atlanta 1996 Olympic Games, and he isn’t surprised to see so many athletes across a wide range...

22 January 2021

Former Director of Sport Tom Hudson reflects on his Olympic Games experience and laying the foundations for 25 years of success at University of Bath

Imagine, aged 20, you’ve never been out of the country before. Imagine that the flight you board from the UK stops first at Basra, where the heat is somewhat unbelievable, before going on to Singapore (including an overnight at the world-famous Raffles Hotel) and then onward to Australia where local people line the streets to cheer and welcome the arriving athletes. For some it might have proved too much, generating nerve-jangling under-performance, but for Tom...

21 January 2021

Academy players make their mark as youthful Team Bath Netball squad enjoy highly-competitive final friendly at Severn Stars

Anna Stembridge was pleased to see a youthful Team Bath Netball squad produce a highly-competitive performance against Severn Stars in their final external friendly before the 2021 Vitality Superleague season. The Blue & Gold – sponsored by Principal Partners Haines Watts alongside Team Bath overall sponsor Rengen – made the short journey to Worcester on Saturday without their England internationals involved in this week’s Vitality Netball Legends Series and the vastly experienced trio of Kim...

19 January 2021

SwimWall system that allows 25m and 50m training in Team Bath swimming pool achieves double success at UK Pool and Spa Awards

The pioneering SwimWall system that allows the Olympic-sized swimming pool at the Team Bath Sports Training Village to be adapted to a 25m facility has won two prizes at the annual UK Pool and Spa Awards. SR Smith, the US company that installed the turning board system in 2019, was awarded the Gold Standard for Pool Product of the Year and Silver Standard for Commercial Pool Project of the Year. The SwimWall, which sits on...

18 January 2021

Fab 15 University of Bath-based swimmers named in England Swimming Team ahead of Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games

Fifteen swimmers who train at the University of Bath, including seven students and Olympic and Paralympic medallists, have been named in the first-ever England Swimming Team ahead of the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. The larger-than-normal team of 85 swimmers in total brings together everyone who will be considered for selection for Team England at the Commonwealth Games next year. Among them are four University of Bath sporting scholars – Natural Sciences student Jacob Greenow,...

13 January 2021

Ben Fletcher excited to get back to international judo competition at Doha Masters with less than 200 days to rescheduled Tokyo Olympics

Team Bath judoka Ben Fletcher says he is excited to get back into competition and see where he is on the global stage as he prepares to compete in this week’s Doha Masters event in Qatar. Fletcher and sister Megan, a Commonwealth Champion who also trains with Team Bath, will be representing Ireland on the international circuit for only the second time since the Coronavirus pandemic forced competition to be suspended last March, while University...

12 January 2021

Fifth-placed finish is a new career best for Craig Thompson as skeleton athletes continue strong start to World Cup campaign

Craig Thompson continued Great Britain’s strong start to the IBSF Skeleton World Cup season with a career-best fifth in Winterberg on Friday. The University of Bath-based team ended 2020 with two World Cup medals to their name and weren’t far off adding to that tally at the start of 2021 as Thompson finished just 36 hundredths of a second behind home favourite Alexander Gassner in third. The result beat Thompson's previous best of sixth, a...

09 January 2021

Sporting scholars Orlando Bailey and Ethan Staddon earn selection for 2021 England Rugby U20 Elite Player Squad

University of Bath sporting scholars Orlando Bailey and Ethan Staddon have been named in the England Rugby U20s’ Elite Player Squad for 2021. The first-year students, who are supported by Matrix and Santander Scholarships respectively, have previously represented England at U18 level but are making the step-up to U20s for the first time. Fly-half Bailey, who is studying International Development with Economics, made his first senior appearance for Bath Rugby in September, while Natural Sciences...

03 January 2021

A year of challenges and upheaval but versatility, ingenuity and positivity too – our sporting review of a very different 2020

It could not have been more different to the year we were eagerly looking forward to but there has still been much to celebrate and be thankful for at Team Bath during a challenging 2020. From the versatility, ingenuity and positive attitude of staff, athletes, coaches, students and customers adapting to the ever-changing ‘new normal’ to more traditional markers of success such as international medals and national awards, it has certainly been a year that...

26 December 2020