Evening Press reporter

York's Olympic veteran, Caroline Foot, has had to pull out of the latest Great Britain squad following the controversial "sacking" of her husband-coach at York City Baths Club.

Foot - who only last month set a then British 50m butterfly record - had been selected for the European Championships, to be held in Helsinki in July.

However, the uncertainty now surrounding her training programme has forced her to withdraw - just three months before the vital trials for this year's Sydney Olympics.

Her husband and long-time coach Paddy Garratt, who joined YCBC nine years ago, is set to leave the club at the end of May having had his coaching contract terminated by club bosses.

As revealed by the Evening Press last month, the 62-year-old - who also coaches YCBC's teenage international Robin Francis - has vowed to fight what he considered to be a sacking, and has threatened to take the club to an industrial tribunal.

He also said then that the situation would hamper Foot's training schedule, as well as the coaching programmes for up-coming stars such as multi-medal winning Francis.

And that Foot's bid to reach her third Olympics, having captained the women's team in Atlanta in 1996 and swam at Seoul in 1988, would be threatened.

Unsurprisingly, she vowed to stick by Garratt, but neither yet know where or when she will train after leaving York City Baths in seven weeks' time.

At 35 years old, Foot has amazingly improved with age, having set four Yorkshire county records and four personal bests, as well as her British record, in the last major competition, the World Short-Course Championships in Athens.

There, she finished seventh in the 50m butterfly final, having set a British record of 27.03 seconds in the heats, which was bettered by North Yorkshire rival Nicola Jackson, of Derwentside, only hours later.

In the 100m butterfly, she set two county records on her way to the final, breaking the one-minute barrier for the first time and beating the previous British best, but seeing Jackson set a new record in the same race.

Originally seeded 19th, Foot then swam another Yorkshire record of 59.87 in the final, in which she finished eighth.

Former York City Baths swimmer Mike Cole, now based in Edinburgh, is in the British squad for the European Championships.

His selection follows excellent displays at the Athens event, in which he set personal bests when finishing 18th in the 100m individual medley (in 57.24 seconds), ninth in the 200m individual medley (2 mins 1.81 secs), and 11th in the 400m individual medley (4:20.33).

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