Plaid Cymru Dwyfor Meirionnydd The Rt Hon. Liz Saville Roberts MP and Mabon ap Gwynfor MS

Plaid Cymru Member of the Senedd for Dwyfor Meirionnydd, Mabon ap Gwynfor says that an Olympic-sized swimming pool located in north Wales would enable the next generation of Welsh swimming talent to train closer to home.

Plaid Cymru Member of the Senedd for Dwyfor Meirionnydd, Mabon ap Gwynfor says that an Olympic-sized swimming pool located in north Wales would enable the next generation of Welsh swimming talent to train closer to home.

Paying tribute to Porthmadog star-swimmer Medi Harris who competed at this year’s Olympics in Paris through a Motion in the Senedd, Mr ap Gwynfor said that an Olympic-sized pool in north Wales would enable up-and-coming swimmers to fulfil their sporting potential whilst providing more training opportunities for those based in areas such as Gwynedd and Ynys Môn.

Mr ap Gwynfor said that elite swimmers from north, mid and west Wales are at a distinct disadvantage when it comes to accessing training opportunities given that Wales’ only Olympic-sized swimming pools are in Cardiff and Swansea with many from north Wales travelling across the border to Liverpool or Manchester to train and compete.    

Mabon ap Gwynfor MS said:  

Swimming and indeed all aquatic sports should be available to everybody, wherever they live across Wales. It is vital that investment in sporting facilities and emerging sporting talent are fairly distributed across Wales. As it stands, swimmers from north Wales must travel south to Cardiff or Swansea or across the border to Liverpool or Manchester to train in 50m Olympic-sized pools. This places undue pressure on swimmers, especially in the run-up to competitions or events, not to mention the added burden of traveling to and from these locations. The thought of having to travel up to five hours to train is enough to put some people off pursuing their ambitions. The success of elite swimmers such as Medi Harris from Borth y Gest, Porthmadog demonstrates the potential within our communities, but how many more swimmers could become elite athletes if they had access to training facilities closer to home. Establishing an Olympic-sized swimming pool in north Wales is long overdue. Both elite and up-and-coming swimmers living across north Wales deserve access to the most suitable training facilities for their sport. Our home-grown sporting talent should be afforded every opportunity to fulfil their potential and should not be dissuaded from pursuing their ambitions because of a lack of access to training facilities. I therefore call on the Welsh government to work with partners in north Wales to explore how this can be achieved.