SWIMMING SCULPTURE INSPIRED BY OLYMPIC GLORY IS SET TO MAKE A SPLASH IN MANSFIELD

Olympic double-gold medal winning swimmer Rebecca Adlington has inspired an important new piece of public art that’s going to extraordinary lengths to put a swimming centre firmly on the map.

Two Devon-based ‘swimmer-artists’ have created a body cast of a female swimmer to be placed on the outside of the newly redeveloped Rebecca Adlington Swimming Centre in Mansfield, Notts. Kari Furre and Amanda Bluglass are both keen swimmers and beat off competition from seventeen other artists to win the commission. They say their passion won them the commission – as well as inspiring the work.

One of the artists, Amanda Bluglass says: “We absolutely love being in the water, and we want the work to reflect the beauty and strength of the swimmer’s body. Rebecca’s success has made swimming very current and we hope our sculpture will help keep that momentum going. We want people to visit the building and be really enthused and fired up by the power of the artwork on the outside.”

The sculpture is a massive 4.5m long and had to be put on a special sledge to be moved during the height of the country’s recent snowfall. Delicately hidden within the main piece is a ‘visual puzzle’: the body of a female swimmer making her way across the wall. The artists worked with a fellow swimmer to cast her body, capturing authentic musculature and movement. The sculpture is made of fibreglass resin. Once completed and mounted on the outside of the pool it will glitter with gold mica flecks. At night it will be also be illuminated from within by blue LED lights.

Councillor Eddie Smith, Portfolio Holder for the Environment at Mansfield District Council, commented: "Our newly redeveloped swimming centre, dedicated to Mansfield’s Olympic heroine looks stunning internally. We wanted something that will look equally stunning outside. The design by Furre and Bluglass perfectly captures our pride at Rebecca’s double Gold medal success at the 2008 Olympics and we hope will inspire future generations of swimmers to achieve success. We are thrilled with the design and we are sure Rebecca will be too when she performs the official opening in February.”