World 50 metres breaststroke record-holder Cameron van der Burgh and Olympic relay gold medallists Roland Schoeman, Darian Townsend and Lyndon Ferns are among the team for Italy (July 17-August 2).

Swimming SA have been able to go the extra mile to send all 19 swimmers who posted world championship A level qualifying times at the Telkom SA National Aquatics Championships in Durban last month.

Additional assistance for the team has come from the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC), the National Lotteries Distribution Trust Fund and Telkom.

Van der Burgh, who set a world best of 27.06sec in the 50m breaststroke at national championships, will compete in the 50 and 100m breaststroke events, while Schoeman, who joined Townsend, Ferns and Ryk Neethling in the gold medal-winning performance in the 4×100 metres relay at the Athens Olympics in 2004, will compete in the 50 and 100m freestyle and 50m butterfly.

Ferns, who will compete in the 50 and 100m freestyle and 100 metres butterfly, showed fine form at the national championships, on the comeback from a hernia operation in January.

Other swimmers who will be out to make the most of the world championships campaign include Capetonians in Sebastien Rousseau, who bettered his continental record in the 200m butterfly to 1:55.51 in Durban, and Chanelle van Wyk, who set an African best of 28.55 in the 50m backstroke.

US-based Wendy Trott, who took her African record in the 1500m freestyle to 16:10.97 at the national showpiece, will also be a part of the national team, as will Durbanite Riaan Schoeman, who clocked 4:12.07 to eclipse the 400m individual medley continental best of Oussama Mellouli of Tunisia which had stood at 4:13.47.

The Westville Boys High pair of Charl van Zyl (50m backstroke) and Chad le Clos will be making their senior world championship debuts after fine performances at junior international galas last year.

Van Zyl, who posted a world championship qualifying time of 25.71 in the 50m backstroke, got among the medals at the Commonwealth Youth Games held in Pune, India last year, in winning the 50m backstroke (26.52), finishing second in the 100m backstroke (58.87) and claiming bronze in the 200m backstroke (2:05.02).

Le Clos, who clocked a 400m individual medley qualifying time of 4:17.62 to book his place in the SA team for swimming action in Rome, won the 200m breaststroke (2:21.00) and 200m individual medley (2:04.88) at the Commonwealth Youth event.

Also included are Soweto breaststroke star Thabang Moeketsane (50 and 100m breaststroke) and the highly promising Darren Murray for the 200m backstroke.

Murray finished second in the 50m backstroke (26.60secs) and 200m backstroke (2:04.05) as well as third in the 100m backstroke (57.06) at the Commonwealth Youth Games held in Pune, India last year.

Rogge told insidethegames.com that the paper loss has occurred since January 2008.

It represents around eight percent of the body’s overall investment pot of just over $400 million.

Rogge made the disclosure in an exclusive interview with insidethegames at the IOC’s Swiss HQ on the shores of Lake Geneva.

The IOC President, who turned 67 on Saturday and is nearing the end of his first term in office, painted a picture of a Movement that is weathering the economic crisis reasonably well.

While acknowledging that conditions were difficult for federations and National Olympic Committees, preparations for forthcoming Games in Canada, the UK and Russia were progressing smoothly.

“I would say, in terms of the organising committees, we have no problem today,” Rogge stated.

On sponsorship, he revealed that the IOC’s TOP worldwide sponsorship programme has to date yielded “a little over $900 million” for the current quadrennium and said that two further companies would soon be extending their support to the four years ending in 2016.

The IOC had also received “expressions of interest” from broadcasters to start discussions on agreements covering the 2014 and 2016 Games in the Big Four European markets of France, Germany, Spain and the UK.

The 13-member committee, chaired by Morrocco’s Nawal el Moutawakel, has already visited fellow bid cities, Chicago, Tokyo and Rio de Janeiro.

The IOC committee will spend five days in the Spanish city.

Spanish prime minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero met the committee yesterday and believes Madrid has “reasonable hope” of landing the Olympics.

“I feel reasonable hope about our bid,” Zapatero told Associated Press. “We deserve the Games.”

Zapatero said Madrid’s bid was strong due to unity at all governmental levels, with 77 percent of the infrastructure ready for use, and because of the legacy of the 1992 Barcelona Games, the first games attended by South Africa after re-admission to international sport.

“We are supported by the success of the 1992 Barcelona Games, which showed the world that Spain knows how to do these things,” said Zapatero, who is expected to be in Copenhagen on October 2 when the IOC selects the host city. “We have great capacity to show this to the world.”

“Spain is living a golden age of sport. We are the best in many sports, especially in (soccer),” said Zapatero, who is an avid Barcelona fan. “In many sports our athletes are shining as never before. And across the country there is a movement toward Olympic sports.”

The BBC  reports that the delegation will see the ‘ big five’ Olympic venues, including the stadium and velodrome, which are being built.

The Aquatics Centre, Olympic Village and Press Centre will also be checked.

Olympic Delivery Authority chairman John Armitt said: “It’s clearly visible how much progress has been made since the IOC visited last year.”

At the time of the IOC’s last visit, there was little construction work to inspect, but the Olympic Stadium is starting to take shape with eight sections of the roof in place.

Meanwhile the foundations for the velodrome are also finished and building work is well underway at the three other key venues.

“The Olympic Stadium has changed the east London skyline, the Aquatics Centre roof is starting to take shape and the first residential blocks for the Olympic Village are out of the ground,” said Armitt.

London 2012 chairman Sebastian Coe added: “Seeing the Olympic Stadium and other venues on the Olympic Park taking shape is really exciting.

“These are world-class facilities which will leave a lasting legacy for elite athletes and the community.”

Els, along with world number one, Tiger Woods, Padraig Harrington, Colin Montgomerie and others, sent letters of support to International Olympic Committee members from their countries.

The campaign is being organised by the International Golf Federation, who hope to get the sport included in 2016.

Joint secretary Peter Dawson said: ‘It is imperative that the best players support our effort.’

Golf is one of seven sports being considered for inclusion in the Olympics. The others are baseball, karate, roller sports, rugby sevens, softball and squash.

The IOC can only add a maximum of two from that list, and are due to make their decision in August.

It is important to underscore the fact that 60m people golf in nearly 120 countries

As well as the letters, the players also included a 32-page dossier on why golf should be included in the Games, containing information on how many people play the sport around the world.

Dawson, who is also chief executive of the The Royal and Ancient Golf Club (R&A), added: ‘This personal outreach by international players is a continuation of our effort to have the best chance of being selected.

‘It also is important for us to demonstrate the international nature of golf, underscoring the fact that 60m people play the sport in nearly 120 countries.”‘

Jack Nicklaus and Annika Sorenstam, global ambassadors for the campaign, have sent the same documents to IOC representatives from 75 other countries.

Golf was last an Olympic sport in 1904 in St Louis when the United States and Canada were the only countries competing.

Other players who are sending the material to their respective IOC representatives are: Karrie Webb (Aus); Mike Weir (Can); Camilo Villegas (Col); Vijay Singh (Fij); Gwladys Nocera (Fra); Bernhard Langer (Ger); Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind); Ai Miyazato (Jpn); KJ Choi (Kor); Lorena Ochoa (Mex); Suzann Pettersen (Nor); Sergio Garcia (Spa); Yani Tseng (Tpe).

The commission spends four days in each city. Under the leadership of Nawal El Moutawakel, the Commission’s next stop is Tokyo, Japan on April 16-19, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (April 29-May 2) and finally Madrid, Spain (May 5-8).

In each city, the Evaluation Commission has an in-depth look at 17 different themes such as transport, accommodation, technology, media operations, environment and meteorology, finance, security, sport and venues and Olympic village(s).

The findings – obtained through briefings and on-site visits – will be summarised in a technical report, which will be published and submitted to all IOC members no later than one month before the election of the host city on 2 October 2009.

The election will take place during the 121st IOC session in Copenhagen, Denmark where the city which obtains a majority of votes will be elected.