Thursday 19 December 2013 10:50, UK
Keri-Anne Payne is targeting the 2016 Rio Olympics after recently competing in the host city.
The two time 10km world open water champion is also delighted with the recent appointment of Bernie Dietzig as Open Water Swimming Lead, tasked with implementing a strategy for the Olympic sport in conjunction with British Swimming Head Coach Bill Furniss. "It is a brilliant appointment, I cannot think of anyone better to take over that role," added Payne. "I am really excited to work with him and I hope that when everything settles he will come up to Edinburgh and we can put a proper plan in place for the next two years." Keri-Anne Payne has had a huge influence on the popularity of Open water swimming - as witnessed by the terrific crowd who came out to watch her compete in London 2012. "For me it was totally overwhelming to walk out and see 25,000 lining up on the banks of the Serpentine to watch Open water swimming. I know a fraction of them just stumbled across it and some were supporting the rest of the world but I would like to think that 20,000 plus people where there to watch me swim. "That made me incredibly proud and probably my proudest achievement is to help get Open water swimming as big as it has got."
