大象传媒

Hi readers.

Just to write you a quick update before I swap the wintry weather of England for the greatly sunnier climate of Australia. I will be moving over there, along with six other British swimmers, on Friday, 11, January, and will be based in Southport, Brisbane on the Gold Coast for the next two years.

Shortly after the Millennium, British Swimming set up the Offshore Centre there, for elite male swimmers from the ages of 16-18. Every year British Swimming take up to six new recruits to join the programme, where we will train ten times a week in the pool and four times a week in the gym. We also have school there, studying the equivalent of A-levels.

Then, in October I travelled to Australia for the first time to spend the month training in the environment I am about to move into. I trained with the Offshore centre that I will be joining, just to get a feel of how things operate, and of course to have a look around the area.

I also had the opportunity to compete at the Queensland Open Championships and an Open Water event which was a first for me.

After spending most of November at home, I again travelled to Australia (on the 25th), this time with 27 other British swimmers, both male and female, as part of the annual End Of Year Tour.

I spent two weeks in Perth, before flying across to Brisbane on December 9th. We spent another two weeks there, training in the first week and then competing for the final week at the Queensland Long Course Championships.

With competition from not only Australians and the other members of the British team, but also Japan, China and Hong Kong, the going was tough. However, I came away with three Gold, a Silver and a Bronze medal, also breaking two British Records, which was an outstanding achievement for me.

Roberto lines up at the EYOF games in Belgrade

We then returned home on 23, December, just in time to spend Christmas and New Year with family and friends.

I am now just a week away from my move and although I'm slightly upset that I will have to leave both my family and friends, the opportunity is one that cannot be missed. It will be the experience of a lifetime and part of me is greatly looking forward to being able to train with other elite athletes in the wonderful environment down under.

As for the next few months, other than settling in to my new life, my priorities are to train hard for the Olympic Trials in Sheffield in early April. Although I have no chance of making the team for Beijing, the experience will be one I have not yet had.

Also, the championships double up as the European Junior Trials. This is a team that will compromise of 17-18 year olds and I would love to make this team. The European Juniors will be held at the end of July in Belgrade, and this is my main target of 2008.

Thank you for reading my experiences.

Roberto.