Halsall not feeling medal pressure

If Great Britain swimmer Fran Halsall is feeling the pressure of a home London 2012 Olympic Games, then she is not letting it show.

The 22-year-old is one Team GB's biggest stars and will compete in the 100m butterfly, 100m freestyle and 50m freestyle in London and is expected to take part in the 4x100m freestyle relay.

But with the bulk of the training now in the bank, the Loughborough-based sprinter believes the pressure certainly isn't weighing her down.

"I don't feel like there's pressure from outside sources coming in to deliver a medal," revealed the 2009 world 100m freestyle silver medallist.

"Obviously I have goals in my head that I want to achieve. I've been to Olympics before, I've won medals internationally before and I want to achieve great things at this Olympics, because it's a home one.

"There's no pressure as such, but there's excitement, especially when 17,000 people are sat there and they're cheering for you.

"For me, it's like feeling that people are here to cheer on me and I get more excited about it, and I feel it will bring out performances.

"It's pretty much about having my rest period and making sure I'm getting enough so for those eight days, I can race as fast as I can.

"If you have too much rest, then you feel like you can't finish 100 metres. I'm trying to balance it out and I sat down with my coach and worked through what I need to specifically do.

"When you're in hard training, your arms go really slowly and you're knackered, but just getting them sharp, that's what I'll be working on - blasting off the boards quick."


"It's been great fun," said Halsall, who competed in the 2008 Beijing Games and finished eighth in the 100m freestyle final.

"We went to Next first to get our ceremony wear, which was fantastic and everything fits nicely.

"The Adidas bit is so much fun, with all the hats and all the t-shirts and having a bit of a giggle.

"There was a photo booth at the end, and we managed to get all of our squad in the photo booth, which is pretty impressive - all seven of us in the picture, so it's been good fun.

"It's becoming more real the more that you do. Nothing like this is going to happen again, so I'm going to enjoy it a bit more and smile. Everyone is smiling and really enjoying themselves."