Tue, 19 Sep 2000

Rwandan swimmers impressed by pool

SYDNEY (AP): The first Olympic swimmers from Rwanda, which doesn't have a 50-meter pool, have been stunned by the Sydney International Aquatic Center's clear, warm waters and wide lanes.

"It's just perfect, it is paradise," said coach Jean Baptiste Tarbuka, whose swimmers have to pay hotels to use their pools to train.

Pamela Girimbabazi in the women's 100-meter breaststroke and Samson Ndayishimiye in the men's 50-meter freestyle will be Rwanda's first swimming Olympians, thanks to an invitation from the IOC. Neither had been out of Rwanda before.