Foster sees bright future for British swimming talent

Spearheaded by the monumental efforts of breaststroker Adam Peaty, Britain's squad now boasts a rich array of talent that is racking up the podium finishes, including 11 at the World Championships in Budapest this summer.

These medals will grow and grow, according to Foster, who amassed six world and 11 European titles in a glittering career in the water.

"It's the best I've ever seen it," said Foster. "The depth that we have got is amazing. Historically we've got one or two swimmers who could potentially do something at major championships.

"Now we've got more than ten, definitely double figures. On the men's side in particular, where you see the depth in the team is where it comes to relays.

"We hadn't won an Olympic medal in the relay since 1984, until we won in Rio, and that just shows the strength and depth we have got, especially on the men's side.

"There's Adam obviously, James Guy is also flying at the moment. Duncan Scott was the fastest man in the world this year up to the World Championships."

Foster was speaking at Stoke Park in Buckinghamshire, where he was taking part in a tennisathon as part of SportsAid Week, along with fellow Olympian, heptathlete Denise Lewis.

And in his capacity as a swimming pundit, Foster could not be happier with the amount of success he is seeing for Great Britain.

"We've got a lot to shout about, which makes my life so much easier," said Foster. "Historically, I watched racing and talked about people from other countries, whereas now we have someone in every race.

"There are some really good younger kids out there too at 14, 15, 16 years of age. Tokyo might be a bit early for them, but we've got that next lot coming through.

"We've got a great structure in place now within swimming, hopefully, there're people like Adam and James, they can get the younger kids involved in sport and they can go on and be like them."

Sportsbeat 2017