SINGAPORE — To better prepare their swimmers for this year’s Olympic Games, the Singapore Swimming Association (SSA) has planned a two-month training tour for the athletes who have hit the Olympic “A” and “B” qualification timings.

The swimmers will first head to Phuket to train at the famed Thanyapura Sports & Leisure club, run by two-time Ironman world champion Chris McCormack from April 9-23.

National swimming head coach Sergio Lopez explained that the decision to train in Thailand was made as the pool at the OCBC Aquatic Centre would be unavailable during that period due to the National Schools championship.

“It was too disruptive to have our training at different locations like the Sports School,” said Lopez, 47. “So I had to find a place where we could be in peace to practice and be focused. That is why we decided to head to Thanyapura for this period of time.”

The swimmers will then embark on an Olympic training camp the following month, which will see them take part in the Arena Pro Swim Series in Indianapolis (May 29-June 6), train for a month in Florida (June 7-July 8), before travelling to Paraguay (July 8–27) for the final phase of preparation and acclimatisation.

Swimmers who qualify for the Olympics will then head to Brazil on July 27, where they will compete in the Rio Games until the end of the swimming competition on Aug 14.

In total, swimmers who qualify for the Olympics will spend 78 consecutive days away from home. However, those whose Olympic “B” marks are unable to earn them a spot at the Games will leave the training camp on July 7, when FINA releases the final cut for the “B” timings.

Despite the length of time spent away from Singapore, Lopez believes his charges will have no issue with the training camp, as it will go a long way to ensuring they are in top condition for the Olympics.

“As long as you have a firm purpose in life (the Olympics), I don’t think the duration of the trip will have an impact,” he said. “We’ll be training and competing in very good environments that will better prepare them for what to expect in Rio.

“The trip will also expose our swimmers to top-level swimming. When they see the likes of Michael Phelps swim and train, they will come to realise the amount of professionalism and hard work it takes to succeed at the highest level, so this trip will only be good for them.”

At least 10 swimmers will be involved in the training tour, although the number will only be confirmed after the Singapura Finance 47th Singapore National Age Group (SNAG) Swimming Championships — the last Olympic qualifiers for local swimmers — comes to an end tomorrow.

Among those who will be part of the overseas training stint include Quah Zheng Wen, Quah Ting Wen, Danny Yeo and Lionel Khoo, who last night posted an Olympic “B” time (1min 2.26s) in the 100m breaststroke event at the SNAG.

“At least I’ve secured a chance to get a call-up (to the Olympics),” said Khoo, 21, whose timing broke Parker Lam’s national record set in 2009. “It’s good that we’ll be able to go on the training camp, as in Singapore, there can be quite a few disruptions. So having a fixed training location is good.”

Ting Wen, who bettered her “B” mark in the 200m freestyle yesterday with 1min 59.75s, agreed.

“Two months is a really long time to be away from home, but I trust Sergio and high-performance manager Sonya (Porter) completely because they’re very experienced and know what they’re doing. This will allow us to be fully focused on training, which will benefit us ahead of Rio.”