Double Olympic medalist, David Davies, came to the Royal Hospital School, Holbrook, on Friday 21 June to give 
pupils preparing for the Great East Swim a master class in open water swimming.
Davies first swam competitively at the age of eight in his hometown of Barry, Vale of Glamorgan in Wales. From this he went on to swim in the Commonwealth Games for Great Britain in 2002 and to win the Bronze 1500m at the 2004 Athens Olympics.
His highlight was winning the Silver 10km Marathon at the 2008 Beijing Olympics; a battle of endurance for even the strongest of swimmers as he battled with exhaustion and consciousness in his fight for the finish line.
After a few warm up drills with the RHS pupils, Davies went through techniques and tips for open water swimming including getting the students to practice spotting the buoy, swimming in close proximity to others and energy-saving methods for turning around the course.
Unfortunately the Great East Swim, originally planned for Saturday, was postponed due to expected poor weather conditions.
The Royal Hospital School Swimming Coach, Emma Cook, who was also due to take part in the event said, “The 45 pupils who have been training incredibly hard for the Great East Swim found it hard to hide their disappointment today but I hope that the swimmers can now incorporate the techniques they learned into their training regimes which will give them that extra edge for competing once the race has been rescheduled. Thank you to David for his time in the 
pool and the expertise he shared.”