Michael Jamieson- olympic swimmer (London 2012)
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I started swimming in Glasgow
when I was about four-and-a-half years old.
My parents bought me a six-week learning block
and I didn’t actually get in the water
until week six of that
because it was too cold and I didn’t want to get in.
I think after that initial block
when I eventually did get into the water
I loved it.
I never really looked back since then
to be honest.
I swam and raced on medley
until the age of about 19 or 20,
then I really started to specialise on breaststroke
so it’s only been these last 18 months- 2 years-
I’ve been really focusing on breaststroke.
Breaststrokers aren’t usually the tallest athletes.
I’m just a touch over 6 ft which, you know, in breaststroke is actually quite tall.
I take a lot of stick actually
from the other guys in the squad.
I’m one of the lucky ones
that, you know, I can pretty much eat whatever I want
and not have to worry about putting weight on.
I actually find it really difficult
to maintain body weight
particularly when we're in a hard training phase.
You know, I can be eating up to 6,500 calories a day
which, you know,sometimes I just can’t eat enough to fill myself up.
You know, the 200 is my main event
but it's so important to have the hundred as well, because
my front end hundred is a weakness
and it’s something I’ve been working on in the last year.
I think I’m sort of trying to adopt those tactics
where I need to be out over the first 100 strong,
but still, maintaining, you know, a degree of control really
and still being comfortable
in order, you know, to still make the most of that second hundred.
I think last season leading into the Common wealth games
the one hundred was almost more of a focus
because it was a weakness of mine
and it was something that I had to work on
before the Olympic season.
I moved to the University of Bath in 2009
because it’s one of the best facilities in the UK.
We’ve got the Olympic size swimming pool
which, you know, is obviously critical in the lead up to major events.
We’ve got a great support staff network
and we’ve got great support from the National Water and UK sports, and
then more recently through team 2012 as well
which has been a great initiative and a great help,
and, you know, I think it just shows in the fact that
we have all the available support staff
under one roof here,
physiotherapists, massage therapists, you know,
all the medical staff support and the coaches
so, it all works really well together.
The world championships this year
were a huge stepping stone towards the Olympic Games,
you know, looking at the stats and the history of the sport,
Olympic medallists almost always come from the top eight
of the previous year’s championships,
so, you know, it was a huge stepping stone this summer
and it was important to make that final and,
you know, not just to get that confidence boost
and to put yourself in the frame for Olympic selection hopefully
and finals and medals next year.
There were three British guys
ranked inside the top ten in the world
with only two available spots
and it’s going to be so difficult to qualify in the first place
but you know the other side of the coin to that
is if a British male qualifies in the 200 breaststroke
then you’ll almost be expected to make the Olympic final
and you know once you’re in that final
anything can happen
and it could be anyone’s year I guess.