大象传媒

In Sheffield I swam against people who had been to the Beijing Games, which was quite an experience for me!

For me, this year is all about times, but moving on to next year we've got the Commonwealth trials and to make the team you have to be in the top two, so I'm working on that too.

But it's nice to see that I'm already fourth and I've now got a year to move up.

Bring on the Baltimore Bullet

Michael Phelps has announced he isn't going to be doing the 400m individual medley, which happens to be my best event, so I'm lucky in that respect. But I think whatever event you do, Michael Phelps is a threat.

The European Juniors is next on Roberto's horizons

What makes him so good? They say he's got the right proportions in terms of body and arm lengths and things like that. He's also very tall and thin as well.

There's also the fact that he doesn't produce as much lactic acid as normal swimmers, which helps him to do one race, get out and is not be as tired as others; so he can get in and do another one and still swim as fast.

But I think it's mainly down to his dedication and the will to succeed.

Life Down Under

It's been a lot of hard work and a lot of training, but things have been going well for me.

Roberto is enjoying his training in Australia

Brisbane is a very nice environment and it's great to train with a group of youngsters who are all heading in the same direction, with the same goals. There's six of us and we're a very close-knit group who help each other through.

Although there is a lot of work and it's hard being away from family and friends, at the moment it has been worth it and I have been getting the results.

Training wise, I'm swimming over five hours more a week than I was back home, I'm doing a lot more gym work and a lot more exercise out of the pool as well to increase my strength.

The people I train with here are at a much higher standard than the one's I was training with at home, which helps as they push me along as well.