TEENAGE Kent swimming star Karl Botha has been picked to join a special Great Britain development squad targeting success at the London 2012 Olympics.

The City of Canterbury club member from Charing is one of 115 athletes aged between 13 and 17 in the Targeted Training squad who will try and meet British Swimming’s stated aim of having a British swimmer in every Olympic final in five years time.

Over the next five years Botha will receive close attention from British Swimming coaches as he is put through his paces with a series of development and nurturing exercises.

As well as expert coaching, he will benefit from coaching, sport science support and specially arranged competitions to ensure he is at his competitive peak in time for the Olympics.

Botha will join the other youngsters for an introduction to the programme over the next few weeks.