By Tania Phillips
Stanthorpe Swimming Club the club celebrated their first homegrown Olympian Ben Armbruster on Friday night but they are set to welcome another international swimmer with Vanuatu Olympian Jonathon Silas due to join the club on his return from Paris.
Over the past week IComply CEO Rodney Prestia has been in discussions with the Vanuatu Minister for Youth and Sport while he was in Paris as he seeks to continue the development of Vanuatu Olympic sports representative post Olympics with eyes on the next Olympics in Los Angeles on four years time
“We are pleased to announce this exciting news as Vanuatu Minister for youth and sport Tomker Netvunei has facilitated an incredible opportunity for Jonathon to work and train in Australia under ICOMPLY’s sporting dreams and seasonal work project. Upon completion of the Paris Olympic Games,” he said.
“Already making waves, we have successfully welcomed Solomon Islands’ swimmer, Wendy Charles, to ICOMPLY for training with top Australian coach, Gail Smail.
“Now, Jonathon Silas is set to join us in Australia to further his development at Stanthorpe Swimming Club alongside Solomon Island swimmer Wendy Charles.”
Following in the footsteps of Olympian Ben Armbruster, international swimmer Wendy Charles, 24, is basing herself in Stanthorpe for nine months as she begins her campaign for the next Pacific Games in three year’s time.
Charles, who swam at both the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham and Oceania Championship in China for the Solomon Island, will arrive Stanthorpe in September to train with Gail Smail – Armbruster’s long-time mentor.
Charles had a chance to meet her new coach and the Stanthorpe swimming club members at the club’s Olympic watch party on Friday night at the International Club.
The club and members of the Stanthorpe community were there to cheer on fellow Stanthorpe swimmer Ben Armbruster as he realised his Olympic dream in Paris, swimming in the heats of the 100m butterfly against the cream of International swimming.
Club president Craig Magnussen said the club was really happy with the turn out for the event and very proud of Armbruster’s performance at the Olympics with 22-year old making the semi finals for the 50m freestyle and the 100m butterfly. He narrowly missed the butterfly final and then helped the Australian 4x100m medley relay team to the finals (where they finished – 6th behind medal winners China, the US and France).
“We ended up with more than 110 people booked in, a few turned up at the door and some didn’t turn up so I think in the end we had around 120 people on the night,” he said.
“It was awesome. The Inter Club was pretty well packed and decorated with all sorts of green and gold and Olympic stuff. We had things that school kids had made, it looked really good.”
Magnussen said the big crowd weren’t disappointed with Armbruster delivering a PB for the race.
“He narrowly missed out on the 100m fly final by about a 10th of a second,” he said.
“You see some of the company he was swimming with. That’s what we talked about – I gave a bit of a welcome and just made a point of saying that he was in absolutely superstar stacked semi finals in both events and he looked right at home. He wasn’t out of place at all.
“His heat swim in the medley relay was a really good swim too and it’s unfortunate the A team didn’t medal. He could only help them get to a final.”
If they had won a medal, as a heat swimmer Armbruster, a Bond University student, would have got the medal too – a pretty fitting end to his campaign according to his home swimming club.
“But is was such a strong final, though it’s the Olympics so they are all strong fields but that was next level,” Magnussen said.
“You look at team GB, the French team, they were just stacked with superstars and there was our boy from Stanthorpe mixing it with them. Imagine looking across the blocks and seeing Caeleb Dressel and people like that, he must be pinching himself.
“He has absolutely done the club proud and just the number of kids that were there. They were just super excited. We had a heap of caps that Ben had signed some time ago, we were giving those out as prizes and they were absolutely rapt. I know my young fella he got one and he straight away said ‘we’ve got to buy a frame for this, I’m not wearing it.
“And Ben’s going to give back, he always does. He’s undertaken to come back to visit us. Hopefully it will coincide with our first club night, our first come and try night. We’re not sure about that yet but he’ll be there one way or another and it’s going to really help Stanthorpe swimming for a long time to come I think.”
He said the club will be further boosted by IComply also bringing in Solomon Islands international swimmers Jonathan Silas and Wendy Charles. Charles came and met her new coach and club on Friday night after arriving in the country on Tuesday.
“It will be a big boost for some of the older swimmers in the club to have that quality of swimmer there,” Magnussen said.
“It is a win-win. It really is. “
