I flew back from Tenerife yesterday from my final training camp before the Olympics and there’s a massive sense of excitement that the Games are nearly here.
I don’t really get that butterfly feeling some people do when I think about the Games, just excitement especially as we began the taper phase for London this week.
It’s not quite a wind down. We’re just decreasing the volume of work but the sessions are very intense and we’re still doing things at speed. In the gym the focus is on stuff like a few medicine-ball slams against the wall — it’s all power work.
I feel really good and training’s gone fantastically well. I had my skin folds done and my body composition and it’s the best it’s ever been so things are very positive.
Now it’s up to me to save my energy until I’m on the starting block for my heat of the 100metres backstroke (above). That means literally doing nothing in between sessions so I’m reading books or watching DVDs. It’s only for a short time and is just part of my focus to achieve my goal.
Tenerife was great. There were six of us: myself, Ross Davenport and Grant Turner all sharing one apartment while Fran Halsall, Jo Jackson and Lizzie Simmonds were in another.
Everyone’s been so focused on what they have to do as we approach the last part of what we’ve all been working towards for the last four years.
It’s not long before we head to the Olympic Village and get ready to compete. I don’t visualise myself in the Olympic pool for my race partly because I’ve already experienced that at the trials and know what it feels like. However, I can’t help but get excited about the idea of walking out in front of 17,500 people.
A lot of people with tickets probably won’t even know who I am but, once they see the Team GB colours, none of that will matter as they will be supporting all of us whatever happens.
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It’s not my job to set targets for our team but we have an amazing squad and you can’t help but feed off other people’s success. So I think these home Games will be very special for Team GB.
Ask any swimmer their goal and they will say they just want to swim the fastest they ever have. That’s what I want to do and I’ve trained very hard every day for many years to do that.
It’s crazy to think it will come down to just one race over 100m that will last less than a minute. I’m not one to look at times or focus on medals really, I just need to concentrate on doing it right and doing it well.
There’s no particular swimmer I’ll worry about. It’s just eight guys, all of whom can win that race. Backstroke is very intense and tight but the guys I’m racing against are all my friends. As much as anything, I’m looking forward to seeing them all again.
Follow Liam on Twitter @liamtancock
