Radio interview from Beijing

Here's an interview I did for ABC Coast FM a few days after my race...... just before heading out to the great wall of China.

http://www.abc.net.au/local/audio/2008/09/18/2368063.htm?site=sunshine

Luckiest day of the year

Happy mid autumn day from Beijing, China. Today is a very special day in Chinese culture, The Mid-Autumn Festival is one of the two most important holidays in the Chinese calendar (the other being the Chinese Lunar New Year). Farmers celebrate the end of the summer harvesting season on this date. Traditionally, on this day, Chinese family members and friends will gather to admire the bright mid-autumn harvest moon,talk about life and eat mooncakes together.

It is also meant to be one of the luckiest days this year- and I have to agree!
After 12 years on the swimming team I have won my first paralympic silver medal on the day after my 27th birthdayl!

A Paralympic birthday

I was totally spoilt for my birthday. Not only did I get to spend the day in the paralypic village but the mayor of the village and the Beijing organising committee sent me a beautiful bouquet of flowers. I ended up filling the garbage bin with water and wrapping it in pink paper to hold the flowers as I didn’t have a vase. I also got a lovely bunch of pink roses from my roomie esther, which are sitting in an empty powerade bottle.

I had the day off from training to rest up for my race, so i decided to pamper myself. First I had a nice sleep in followed by a relaxing long shower (I then spent an hour mopping as the whole bathroom floods!)before heading to the hairdresser to get my hair washed and styled. We all headed for the pool at about 3.30 where I caught up with mum before getting a massage. Mum gave me some beautiful presents, including a string of origami birds made my the chinese volunteers in her hotel.

The massage was just what i needed as unfortunately I have had a headache and been really sore for the past 6 days after I did a race practice session in training- which isn’t exactly what I wanted a week out fro the biggest race of my life!

The countdown begins.....

Whenever I go to a big competition there is an inevitable countdown that starts as much as a year ahead. From the moment I made the team for Beijing I knew we had 63 days to prepare.

One day before my race I found out my race would be swum at 5.43 Chinese time.

The countdown really began for me the night before my race, when I walked out of the watercube and realised next time I come here will be for my race!
Then there was the ‘last supper ‘ where I TRIED to eat very healthy to fuel my big race the following evening. I couldn’t help but think that this time tomorrow night I could be a medallist.......... and that I would be free to eat anything I want! Already most of the swimmers on the team have finished up and are eating the ritual free McDonalds in the dinning hall which symbolises that racing is over.

Sometimes I find it hard to sleep the night before a big race . But I have come to the realisation that this is quite counterproductive and decided that the best way to stay relaxed and get some sleep was to try to keep things normal as possible. So i climbed in bed and read my book- Brooke Hansons ‘when silver is gold’ until i swiched out the light and was ready ready for sleep.
As the sun peeked through the curtains on race day I put my head under the covers and tried to go back to sleep. With everyone (including my roommate esther) coming home from the pool at different times during the night it was almost midnight by the time I got to sleep, and I didn’t want to be too tired. After laying bed and reading a bit, I got up and had corn flakes for breakfast.I had brought them over in a plastic cup with some milk the night before to avoid a long walk to the dinning hall in the morning. I also wanted to avoid thinking about swimming so I didn’t get excited too soon and burn nervous energy, which meant staying away from all my team mates in the dinning hall at lunch- sorry guys!

The remainder of the day was spent in our unit at the village, trying to do as little walking about as possible to conserve energy. I painted my fingernails green and yellow ( a prerace ritual) and had a late lunch at about 2 pm, then headed back to my room to pack my bag for my race. As I did it I couldn’t stop thinking I cant believe I am actually packing my bag to race the paralympic final- finally!

Then i lay on my bed and rested till it was time to go. The last thing I did before leaving my room was to write a sticky note to myself that said WELL DONE! YOU did it! It would be a nice reminder after the race, whatever the outcome may be, to be proud because I have worked hard.

This was a little tradition I started at these games, sticking a note on the door of swimmers in my unit who had done a great race. It caught on and soon everyone was writing post it notes- though I think i’m the only one who wrote to myself!

Headed out the door towards the bus I thought, next time I’m this room I could be a medallist!
The first bus to the pool was full, so luckily I was early. Once we pulled up at ‘the cube’ I went to look at the crowd to see where my mum and all the aussies were sitting. I saw a huge 3m banner that says GO MARAYKE which has come to all my paralympic races.

Then I headed inside to the warmup pool where the aussi section looked AMAZING.There wererows of green and gold balloons and a kangaroo with tattoos. Unfortunately we weren’t allowed to hand up the Australian flag and an official asked that it be taken down.
The atmosphere was great, with everyone wishing me luck.

As the clock ticked into the final hour I headed to the change room with Sandra, our team nurse, who volunteered for the task of getting me into my fastskin racing suit. This generally takes half an hour so we knew we had to start early! So that I wouldn’t have to lay on the cold floor while we pulled it on, we took one of the massage tables into the change room.

My warm up went exactly to plan. I Jumped in the warm up pool to do 200
m easy swimming, then a few 12 ½m sprints before I got out to head to marshalling for my race.I made I sure I dried myself thoroughly and put a jacket on so I would not get cold and stiff, then I walked down the tunnel to the marshalling area took my place beside my competitors.The officials collected our accreditation and put us in our race order. I was in lucky lane 3.

In the marshalling area I was seated beside Karina Lauridsen, from Denmark. I tried to make friendly conversation by saying that I liked her toenails which had the Danish flag painted on them. She later told me that she had lost a bet with the rowing team about how many medals they would win, and had to do her nails. But for the time being all was silent in the marshalling area as all 7 competitors focussed on the race ahead. I was left staring at a poster of 2 judo players which said one world, one dream. Meanwhile my ONE BIG DREAM drew ever closer.
Shortly before we walked out to race, Karina told me she “ I’m going to swim under 3 minutes for this race.”Perhaps it was an attempt at intimidation, or she was just feeling confident. Either way I smiled and said- truthfully- that I thought that was an amazing time and wished her luck.
The thing was that I was completely in my comfort zone. Not nervous, just ready to race.
A few weeks ago the coaches asked us to write a piece of advice or a quote to the team. After my experience at 2 paralympic games , just 9 words sprung to mind.

“This is your moment. You know what to do."

Now these were the words I repeated to myself in the marshalling area.

“This is your moment. You know what to do."

I reminded myself how hard I had worked and said ‘ I deserve this’.

Just before the race started our helpers came into the room. Our head coach Brendan Keogh was there to push my wheelchair to the other end of the pool for me. I realised there was a steep ramp out the the start, so I asked him to push me up it to save my arms for the race.
1 minute to go!.............................

As BK pushed my on pooldeck the whole aussi team began cheering and it was an amazing feeling. I waved and waved at them and all the aussi flags in the stands. Then I waved again as my name was announced, in land 3 representing Australia Marayke Jonkers.

YAY!!!!! This really was my moment. I adjusted my goggles and swim cap then climbed out of my wheelchair onto the floor to await the whistle directing us to enter the pool. On the whistle I dived deep into the cool water enjoying a brief moment of peace before surfacing and getting in the start position.

I closed my eyes, heard the first whistle.....
Take your marks......... THIS IS IT!!!!
Then nothing. No gun, no go! What on earth is going on?

A swimmer can be disqualified for moving anytime between take your marks and the start gun, so i didn’t want to risk moving to look around. Eventually the announcer said “relax swimmers”. I guessed that either there was a problem with the starters gun or that someone had ‘broken’ and been disqualified. But I didn’t wan to be distracted looking around. It is also hard for me to relax at the start as seing as I cannot kick the only way to stop sinking is either swim or hang onto the backstroke bar. I kept hanging on and by the time the race restared my arms were burning from holding my body weight for so long.

I kept my eyes closed: Take your marks, set GO!!!!!

We were off.

The rest, as they say, is history. Karina lead from the start and I was a clear second for most of the race. The backstroke felt easy...infact the whole race I was ‘in the zone’ and didn’t feel any physical sensations like pain or fatigue. I just followed my race plan and did what i had to do. But coming in to the flags, 10m from the wall I decided to break the rules. Most coaches will say swim your own race and don t look at the opposition. Well I decided to take a sneak peak and THANK GOODNESS I DID! Two swimmers were right alongside me! I held my breath and sprinted for the wall.My moment was finished.I had no idea what place I had come, but I was so happy it was over. The Aussies in the crowd were on their feet cheering. When I looked at the scoreboard the first thing I saw was Karina lauridsen 2.47 WR.A world record! I leaned over the lane rope,hugged her and said congratulations....that is an amazing time! You broke the world record!

Finally I looked back to see where I had placed but the scoreboard hadn’t rearranged yet into finishing order so I was confused. The whistle blew to exit the pool so I swam over to the side, looking as I popped up under each lane rope. Marayke Jonkers (3). “did I come third, no I was in lane 3. At the side of the pool I asked Bk what I had come. Second he said, look at the score board.I turned around and at that moment it flashed up 1.Karina.2 Marayke. I had no idea who got third, but I HAD A SILVER MEDAL!!!! This was amazing and far surpassed anything I could have hoped for.

When I started the race I was officially ranked 7th in the world.

And By the time I walked out to the blocks at the start of the race I had already achieved the main goal I set myself for these Games: to stand behind the blocks knowing I had done everything in my power to prepare myself for the race. That way no matter what happens I could be satisfied, and anyway-fully prepared athletes usually succeed!

My second goal was to win a medal, and my third was to swim a personal best time. I had the medal, but was initially disappointed to miss doing a PB. But Brendan Keogh pointed out it was the second fastest swim I’d ever done, and a silver medal after all. “you little beauty’ he said.
Out of the pool I turned to face the crowd and spotted my mum, who was madly taking photos. We headed down a tunnel to do media and then I met Sandra who had helped get my suit on who greeted me with a big hug.

The official escorting me said 20minutes to medal ceremony! So we madly raced in the direction of a changeroom, walking past all the aussies in the warm up area on the way who cheered and whooped and said well done.

Sandra did 2 PBS that night, putting my suit on and getting it off again FAST! Infact, they should make speed dressing a new paralympic sport and we might go for gold! After madly drying my wheelchair (soaking from wet togs) and pulling on my medal tracksuit I was ready to go. There was a brief moment of panick as we realised that we couldn’t find my accreditation. Thankfully the escort turned out to be standing out side the door holding it and said
“seven minute to medal” ........ a new countdown had begun!

We rushed to the presentation area and I greeted the other medallists who were already there. I was so happy to see patricia Valle from mexico got third. She is actually in a lower classification (more disabled than us) but raced us because her event was cancelled. It was a phenomenal effort, breaking the world record for her own classification in the process of winning bronze.
I quickly put on my earings and tried to apply make up, but chinese people kept asking for photos.At one stage I thought I may have to walk out with one eye made up and the other not as I jsut couldn’t get a moment to finish my make up!

Then we were marching out and again Australia cheered, I waved and enjoyed my moment .
Afterwards I headed upstairs to see my mum and my sponsor Dean and Warren from Thinking ERgonomix, who had flown all the way to China just to watch my race!

We were mobbed by spectators taking photos who didn’t seem to understand that this is a private moment for family and friends. 10, 000 photos later my smile was frozen, my cheeks hurt and I could imagine what it must be like to be famous!

My night at the cube ended cheering for my friend Kat lewis as she won bronze. Then it was on to the dinning hall for the ‘unhealthy meal to celebrate. I was far too tired to walk to McDonalds, so i ended up with vege pizza and 800ml of orange juice. Believe it or not that was a huge luxury, as I have been on such a stict diet that I had to ration oj to 200ml a day MAX!

By midnighht, rather than sitting on the roof gazing at the moon and talking about life like the chinese volunteers enjoying mid autumn day I was sitting at my laptop reading dozens of emails, text and facebook messages from friends and family throughout the world. Technology is amazing! Within minutes of my race i had congratulatory texts from family in Holland and my sister in the cayman Islands as well as everyone at home!

I really wanted to call my coach mike and say thankyou for everything, but I didn’t really think I should ring at 2 am aus time when I got in from the pool, or today while he was at work. Maybe soon!

Tomorrow we all head to the great wall of China, so our Beijing adventure continues!
Thismorning at the pool a few of the female swimmers took white pebbles from the water feature that surrounds the watercube as a momento of the games, and my silver night last night.
A day later I have to admit life doesn’t feel much different as a silver medallist. I stayed up way too late chatting with some of my other housemates and then we had to be on the 8.30am bus to the pool to watch our team mates compete. So now I am feeling rather sleep deprived, but I have a lovely silver medal in the drawer of my nightstand! I love d my silver moment on mid autumn day!

Opening ceremony

The openining ceremont Last night was the best I have ever been to, a truly amazing and memorable experience which I felt privileged to be part of.
This is my third Paralympics, and while nothing will top walking out to a home crowd in Sydney, the entertainment here was breathtakingly spectacular.
Luckily I am not racing on the first day, so I was able toattend. Only eight of the swim team decided to March because swimmers who have events during the first three days were no allowed to because it could affect performance. The ceremony was to start at 8.08pm and we would not get home till midnight (which turned out to be 12 pm on the dot, they are very punctual here in China!).
Before putting on my uniform for the ceremony I went to an early dinner at about 4.30 and the village already had that special ‘opening ceremony vibe’ with many nations already strolling about in their national dress. On my way out I noticed that the volunteer who guards the entrance to our building was gone. This was unusual as every time any of us walk in or out they jump to their feet and say “hello” ( practising their English) and we practice our chinese by responding “nee-how”.Upon reaching the street I was amazed busses lined up all down the road with all the volunteers –including our missing one- standing down the middle of the road to farewell the athletes on the early busses. It was an incredible sight, busses as far as the eye could see. Australia were 3rd last to march out, so we could catch a later bus.
Back in my room I changed into my suit, and loaded myself up with flags,camera and video camera as well as my toy kangaroo Bk (short for boxing kangaroo).We wern’t allowed to bring bags, so it was quite a balancing act to juggle all these items and have my hands free to push my wheelchair.
By 6.45pm excited athletes, coaches and staff dressed in our blue blazers and green,gold and white shirt had assembled on the lawn outside Team AUS headquarters. We were given athlete access cards to hang around our necks and also little Australian flags to wave at the crowd. I ended up putting these in my hair as I needed to keep my hands free- it looked very patriotic I thought. All manner of photos were taken with different combinations of people, before we headed for the busses following our Chinese volunteer Kathy who lead the way with a big ‘australia sign. It was quite a walk but we eventually boarded our allocated bus and were off. I think i had a photo with everyone on the bus...we were a bit excited!
Bus bus departed at 7pm on the dot. Everything was so well organized and efficient, and no queues or chaos, not that we expected anything less after the amazing show china has put on so far.
Driving towards the Olympic precinct you have a stunning display of coloured lights and even giant tv screens on all the buildings and sculptures.Next to the birds nest the water cube changes colour continuously from reds to blues and is like a work of art. The birds nest was lit up in red lights. Although we have see this before when training at night, it is an awesome sight. And this time there were huge crowds of volunteers, spectators and even police and army officers cheering for us! We walked past rows of colourfully dressed performers to arrive at our allocated position to wait to march. Here everyone drank bottled water and snacked on food bags supplied by the organisers. I spent about 45 minutes in a very long multinational queue for a disabled toilet. When it was finally my turn I discovered that the lights work on a sensor and turn off if you stop moving- and the toilet only flushes when you open the door! Oh, and there is no sink just waterless handwash.
By the time I returned from the loo everyone was getting ready to march.
Brendan Keogh and I hatched an elaborate scheme to get him on tv so his kids at home could see him. He came over to me and said “I’m pushing you down the straight because you always get on tv!” We then had to tell everyone i had a sore shoulder (when i was perfectly fine!) so we could get away with pushing me in the wheelchair section! We followed our flag bearer towards the stadium. As we entered the tunnel under the stadium everyone broke into aussi war cries and then sang waltzing matildas. Suddenly we could see the crowd and were marching down the straight. I looked left trying to see my mum and the aussies in the stand but we were marching on the other side. A huge cheer rose up as the Chinese team followed us into the stadium, and I headed to the wheelchair seating area in the centre of the oval to watch the magic unfold.
WE were all given welcome bags on our seats with objects to be used at various times during the ceremony – torches, flags, coloured whirlies, and bells. Also a beautiful hard bound book which was the official programme – it is a beautiful keepsake.I was kept busy throughout the night opening these for myself and esther (who cannot use her hands very well) and working out when we should wave which item.
We made it home just before 12, thanks to efficient organisation, and tiptoed quietly into the house so we didn’t wake up sleeping swimmers. I collapsed into bed at 12 pm exhausted but on a high.
It was an amazing end to a day that had started out pretty ordinary for the swim team.
some of the athletes wen training at 8.15am. I had the day off so I had a nice sleep in.
The highlight of the day was our team meeting at 11.30 am, where we carried out a long standing team tradition, the reciting of “the poem ” by our sport scientist Brendan Burkett ( himself a paralympic gold medallist for 50m freestyle in 1996). He has been reciting this same poem for all the 10 years I have been part of this team... and this time he wrote a special verse about Beijing.Just incase we weren’t already in tears, after the poem the headcoach Brendan Keogh went around the room and spoke about how our team is our family, and spoke about how we are all his brothers and sisters. The first one he mentioned was me, and how we shared our first international trip together ten years ago in 1998. Our team has come so far since them, and are a much closer and far more professional unit with amazing equipment and a great support team. At the conclusion of the meeting we stood in a circle, arm in arm to sing the national athem . Then EVERYONE was tearing up with emotion. After so many months of training together THIS IS IT the day before competition starts.

Here's an article about me!

Marayke hopes to turn setback into success
http://www.paralympic.org.au/ViewArticle.aspx?ArticleID=85b65d71-94f1-4868-9486-410d3c91c501

I have arrived in Beijing

We arrived in Beijing on Saturday August 31st, after a 4am start in malaysia. We had breakfast and packed sandwiches to eat during the hour flight. Once we landed in Beijing all the people on the team who could walk (everyone except me and esther) disembarked and proceeded through customs. I had to wait for a wheelchair to be brought onto the plane so I could get off. Because the Iraq paralympic team were on the flight too we needed 7 wheelchairs. This process was actually very well organised but seemed to me like commedy hour in China, as there were dozens of airline staff speaking Malay and dozens more Games volunteers and airport staff speaking chinese attempting to assist athletes from australia and Iraq who didnt understand either language. To add to the pandemonium an enormous media pack swarmed on to the plane to film the athletes in wheelchairs leaving the plane. You can imagine the scene as all these people scrambled about in the narrow aisle as well as 7 wheelchairs!

They started at the back of the plane so esther was long gone by the time I finally got off the plane and found my wheelchair at the gate. The media pack went into a frenzy of flashes and filming when some games volunteers gave me 2 bracelets which say something in Chinese. I think it says welcome.

By now I was completely separated from the whole team, so I went through to the Games accreditation area with a volunteer. It was very efficient, with teams ushered through a separate way to avoid all standing in line etc. The whole airport was decked out with Beijing banners and signs, and they even rolled out a red carpet as we went through a tunnel to customs. Then I struck my first problem, my coach had my entry visa to china and he of course went a different way and got off the plane ages earlier.Someone was brought in to translate while i explained that problem and after much discussion in chinese someone disappeared and returned with my visa!

Once I cleared customs I was finally united with the rest of the team in the baggage claim area, where volunteers were helping to collect our bags and load them onto a special bus to be brough to the village. We had been warned that we may not see our bags until the next day, so packed our swimming gear and pyjamas in our handluggage. But as it turned out, we had just walked into our building in the village when the bags arrived.

My first impression of China was delight at seing Sunshine and blue sky ( no smog in sight). Everywhere you look are signs and billboards saying Beijing 2008, and they actually have the paralympic mascot and IPC logo rather than just leaving up all the stuff from the Olympics. The side of the road from the airport is lined with flags that say beijing 2008 paralympic games, and there is a spacial "ipc buss lane" for our transport so there are no traffic jams. The excitement on the bus as we neared the village was amazing. We got off the bus and went through security, having our bags exrayed and a body search ( like an airport) before getting a first glimpse of our home for the next few weeks.

We didnt even have time to unpack (let alone decorate) before we had to meet downstairs to go training in the village pool. Then it was on to dinner in the dinning hall- it us so amazing to be here.

It all feels much more real now that we are here, and the Paralympic village is better than I could have ever imagined.

The village accommodation is set up as a series of appartment buildings which have a number of units on each floor. Our whole swimming team is in one building, along with the aussi cycling team. All the aussi swimming girls are on level 3, and I am sharing a room with with my friend Esther Overton. Everyone in our unit spent yesterday decorating with australian flags and kangaroos and balloons, which was a lot of fun. Our buildings are just opposite the dinning hall and transport hub, which saves a lot of walking.

There are of course little oddities, which remond us we are travelling in a foreign country. The showers don't drain,so everyone is standing in ankle deep water in the bathrooms. And you have to stick a plastic pen lid into the powerpoint before you can plug anything in!

I havn't explored everything yet, but there is a shopping centre including a beauty salon, Games rooms, swimming pool and of course the dinning hall- a gigantic building open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. There is food from all different parts of the world and it is all free! We even get a token to use in the vending machines so we don't need to pay for anything!

We had our first training session at the watercube yesterday morning, and everyone on the bus grew excited as soon as it came into view. I discovered it is surrounded by water. We all took lots of photos before getting in to do our training session. The water was REALLY cold and i got goosebumps the whole time. Hope they warm it up before we race.

On our first morning here we had a tour of all the australian team facilities,including the medical centre which has ice baths incase we get hot and is staffed by a sport psychologist, nutritionists, nurses and several doctors. There is a media centre with interview room, and an athlete lounge with internet access.

Outside we have a resident centre where there is games rooms, internet cafe and the laundry. I sit in this building now, writing this, having just collected my laundry from the 'garden shed' like building out back!

Needless to say I am loving village life and cannot wait to compete- let the Games begin!

Greetings from Malaysia

Hi all

I am really enjoying my time in Malaysia.

A typical day here is breakfast 8am, catch the bus to the pool at 8.30am. I then walk over to the gym and do boxing and medicine ball work. We get back to the hotel in time for lunch before heading back out to swimming training at 3.30pm.

Today we had a BBq lunch put on by the hotel, followed by our team photo.

Yesterday i did a practice race in my FSPRO racing suit. It wa sthe first time I had worn it in a 50m pool and I did some really fast times. We also decided to change my backstroke start as my legs slip on the touchpads wearing the suit.


Last night I spoilt myself with a treatment at the day spa by a lovely therapist named Merlin.

It feels great to be in the heat after a cold aussi winter. Tomorrow we will finally get to do some sight seing, when we go to Kuala Lumpur tower and a big shopping centre.

Only 2 more days and we will be in beijing!

Enroute to Beijing

Hi all. I am writing this from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, we we have a one week camp to acclimatise to the heat before flying to Beijing.

It is great to finally be on my way to the Paralympics. My last week in Australia was a flurry of activity, fitting packing in around training and media interviews. I collected my uniform from the wedding dress shop where it was getting altered and am happy to say that it fits!

We flew out of Brisbane airport to Sydney on Saturday morning, before meeting up with the rest of our team for the flight to Beijing. Having left home at 6am saturday morning, I finally got into bed in KL at 3am Sunday morning AEST.

Our hotel- Palace of the Golden Horses- is amazing. I feel like a princess. So far all we have done is training (swimming and gym), so I havnt seen much of malaysia besides the pool and the hotel. This afternoon we head to a local shopping centre for some retail therapy.

We leave for Beijing on Sunday

xooxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoox

Dressed for success one month before my race!

This time in one month I could be standing on the victory dais in China! wow what a thought. I have certainly been doing all the training to make it come happen, and am feeling quite tired as a result. Physically = tired and exhausted. Mentally= so excited!

Today I picked up my uniform for Beijing. always an exciting occassion as it makes the games feel that much closer. We have some great gear, from Addidas and Herringbone, in blue, green and gold. Unfortunatly most of mine doesn't fit (my arm muscles are just too BIG!) so i will spend most of my last week in Australia visiting a dressmaker for alterations.

I'm leaving in 7 days yay!!!!!

Second Last week of training

Hi all

After todays training session I can report that I am on track to swim fast in beijing.

Today we did a time trial for 150m Individual medley, wearing my new swim suit the FSPRO.

My time, 3.24 was 2 seconds faster than my best time of 3.26.86 so I am very excited!

Even though this was a broken Medley (with 5 seconds rest at the end of each lap) it is a good indicator of the time I could race in Beijing as in a race you have atmosphere and adrenalin to get you going faster. Before the Athens Paralympics my final time trial was exactly the time I ended up swimming to win bronze.

We finished off today with 20 25's freestyle off 1 minute, and I kept them all under 31.5 seconds which was great.Then a swin down.

Unfortunately I somehow ripped a huge hole in the leg of my suit so this will be my last practice in the suit till I arrive in Beijing and am issued with the team uniform swim suit.

Today I invited my mum Marion along to video my session, so I will have a record of my progress towards Beijing. It also added some incentive to swim fast, as I didnt want a slow session imortalised on film! Hopefully I can put together a nice little doco with footage from my race, the village and the training beforehand. We also took lots of photos which you can see down the side of this blog.

Out of the water I am starting to get organised. I have a giant list of things to do and buy before Beijing- everything from shampoo to an aussi flag to wave from the medal dais.

I have even practiced painting my finger nails green and gold, with a tiny Australian flag on the thumb ( a very intricate process to paint I can tell you!).

It has been super exciting watching the Olympics on TV and seing Steph Rice and Libby Trickett win gold, and local sunshine Coast swimmer melanie Schlanger win bronze with the relay team. I can't wait to get over to Beijing!

ABC TV covergage of the Beijing 2008 Paraympics to be best in the world!

ABC TV's daily coverage schedule is:

Daily highlights on ABC1 *6pm - 7pm - Hosted by Steve Robilliard
11:30pm - 12:30am - Hosted by Karen Tighe

Daily live coverage on ABC2 *1pm - 5pm - Hosted by Steve Robilliard7:30pm - 11pm - Hosted by Karen Tighe

* Also screens in high definition on ABC HD (digital channel 20). The ABC's Beijing commentary team will also include Peter Wilkins, PeterWalsh, Gerry Collins, Quentin Hull, Clint Wheeldon and ParalympianLouise Sauvage.

My visit to YoungCare

29 July 2008

Today I visited the residents at the Youncare appartments, a residential facility for young people with high care needs in Sinnamon Park, Brisbane. I was there with 7 other paralympians and retired paralympians to launch a mentoring program where we will correspond with our new friends at youncare during the Paralympic Games in Beijing.

At the end of our lunch together, the crew at youngcare thanked us for coming, but the pleasure really was all mine. I have been following the media coverage of youngcare with great interest and was honoured to be invited along.

It's not often you get to meet an everyday hero who deserves a gold medal for living. Today I met two such people in Shevaune Conry and Nick Bonifant.

Shevaune Conry inspired the formation of Youngcare and subsequently the community to create change through her courageous battle with Multiple Sclerosis. She has helped to shed light on the complex issue of being a young Australian with high care needs in Australia today, and create change for many others.When Shevaune's care needs became too great at their home, her and her husband David Conry found their only option was for Shevaune to move into aged care.

Clearly this is inappropriate, and it was at this point when the reality of Shevaune's situation became apparent that the four founding members of Youngcare, David Conry, Simon Lockyer, Nick Bonifant and Matthew Lawson were compelled to do something about it.

Aged care is no place for any young person. Sadly though, 6500 young Australians with high care needs have no choice other than to live in aged care facilities, simply because there are no other alternatives.

The first youncare appartments opened in December 2008, providing a dignified, stylish, supportive,uplifting environment and a whole new care model for these deserving young Australians.

With the assistance of the community, government and business, Youngcare aims to create change by building a number of purpose designed apartments across Australia for young people requiring full time nursing care. In addition, Youngcare will look toward providing other care alternatives such as holiday accommodation, respite care and in-home assistance.

Currently youngcare are seeking a holiday unit on the Sunshine Coast that can be retrofitted for people with high care needs. Can you help?

I encourage you to get behind them and help in any way you can!

You can find out more at http://www.youngcare.com.au/

Listen to my interview with ABC radio
http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2008/07/29/2318047.htm?site=brisbane

Superwoman

Finally Swimming Fast
Mon 28th July

Suddenly I feel like superwoman! I am just home from the pool and am so excited I cannot believe how well I am swimming in the past week.

Today I tried out a new type of racing togs- the speedo FSPRO- to see whether I want to wear them in Beijing. We will all be given training and racing gear by speedo for the Games and most of the athletes want to wear the new LZR (lazer racer) suit which got so much media coverage at the Selection trials. It is totally waterproof and has no stitching as the fabric is sealed by laser beams. I tried one of those in Sydney a few weeks ago and it was so tight that after 45mins of trying and someone helping it still wouldnt go above my knees. So I asked about alternatives and this week I was sent the FSPRO to try. It is the same fabric as laser racer, but without the rubber pannels. The anticipation was great as since the Sydney 2000 Paralympics I have raced in the Speedo fastskin, a neck to ankle body suit modelled on shark skin and the first time I raced in it I went 4 seconds faster.It really helped to hold my legs together ( as a paraplegic I cannot feel or control my legs so when I swim they float all over the place creating drag and slowing me down). So if this suit was meant to be even better I couldn't wait to try it.

My first impression wasn't great. After half an hour laying on the bed doing contortionist moves while someone helped me into the suit, I sat up to find I could hardly move.The pannels in the torso designed for core stability were obviously designed for use either standing or swimming, as when I sat down in my wheelchair they cut into my belly and winded me. Great I thought, but I'd better persevere and try swimming in it. So I drove to the pool while being squished by the suit, where I jumped in the water and my impression of the suit changed immediately.

Suddenly I loved it. As soon I I hit the water it felt different, more buoyant and I dared not hope that perhaps that would make me faster. I did a few laps and felt good.

Then my coach arrived and timed me over 25m freestyle and I KNEW it was good. My previous PB (personal best time) was 29.99 seconds. I did it in 25.5 seconds! Next up was 50m freestlye. My previous best was 1.06 and I did it in 1.04. Finally I did 100m in 2.17, where my previous best had been 2.19 in a long course pool ( I was training in a short course pool with turns which actually slow me down so just imaging what time I would have done in a 50m pool!). To finish off I did 2 sets of 12 x 25 backstroke off 50 seconds which I had never done eaither!This was shaping up to be a crazy day, never did I imagine myself going so fast. It is also the closest I have ever been to knowing what it may be like to swim as an able bodied person, as I have always had to drag my heavy and unstreamlined legs behind me.The suit held my legs together and helps them float.

As an athlete part of me has always been reluctant to accept that a suit can make or break my performance. I would prefer to win as a result of skill, hard work and talent. There is also the fact that relying on a suit could make athletes complacent. I aim to be in top shape even without a suit, and always advise junior swimmers not to rely on the suit and to work on their skills and fitness before they beg mum and dad to spend $500 on a suit that in a n able bodied (non disabled ) swimmer may only make 1/100th of a second difference. But at my age and my level of competition one onehundredth of a second really can make all the difference.

Plus, if everyone else is wearing one I would be crazy not too. Part of being an athlete is making use of all the resources legally available to enhance your performance, and in my case that includes the FSPRO.

To be completely honest I havn't been feeling fit or ready to race since long before even the trials. 'Fit' of course has a different meaning for athletes. Compared to most people I was probably fit as a fiddle, but I know what I feel like when I am in peak shape, and I was nothing like that. Since taking 6 months off all exercise to heal a neck injury last year I have really struggled to regain fitness as well as with my weight. To expect to win when out of shape is a pipe dream, even when I was doing everything in my power to get back in shape. Finally in the last few weeks it is all paying off. I am feeling good in the water, I can feel my body shape changing and becoming more musclular and most importantly I am swimming fast-suit or no suit.

TO celebrate I headed straight from the pool to a manicure and I now have red nails with gold roses on them as a momento of this golden day.

As I drifted off to sleep a random thought popped in my head: is it a bird, is it a plane, no it's superwoman! Maybe i will swim faster than I ever dared dream of in Beijing!

So now I am superwoman and you can watch watch me swim on the ABC from September 6-17th.With 100 hours of coverage of the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games, this is the best paralympic coverege the world has ever seen. Bravo ABC!

Finally Swimming fast

Gold medal Day

July 23

Today was what I call a gold medal day, the kind of day that you remember when you are standing on the blocks before a paralympic final- and just thinking about it gives you an edge over the competitors because the conditions are so tough most of them probably would have stayed in bed instead of training.I like gold medal days.

Let me set the scene. It is pouring with rain and the radio is reporting this is the coldest day in Sunshine Coast history. At Nambour Aquatic Centre the heated 25m pool, enclosed in a tent, is so steamy that you cannot see a metre in front of you- let alone the clock at the other end. As I make a mad dash from the changerooms towards the pool wearing only a pair of swimmers I end up soaked with rain and covered in goosebumps thanks to a vicious wind chill factor. Then I get in and complete my 500m warm up and wait.......and wait............... for my coach mike. He works in a car stereo shop and coaches me in his 1 hour lunch break.Today he has been held up and work and I am getting cold.

Finally he arrives and we get started. I am cold and beginning to feel a bit sore from monday and tuesdays sessions, but I mentally refocuss and say to myself that this is a gold medal day.....if I am going to be swimming in this weather I may as well swim fast and make it worth my while!

I have just re-read Lance Armstrongs book "It's not about the bike" in which he details his journey from testicular cancer to a record breaking 7 wins in the Tour de France. He talks about a day much like my own 'gold medal day concept' where he goes training no matter what the weather is like. Thats what makes champions.One day he woke up to tackle the toughest mountain in the French alps- the Hautacam-only to find that it was raining. He rode it anyway, not once, but TWICE in the pouring rain. You see the first time he didnt quite get it right and there was no way he was prepared to enter the tour de france less than 100% ready.I like that attitude. Training for victory may hurt, living with defeat hurts worse.

So on my own gold medal day, I had a Lance Armstrong climbing the Hautocam day.

Every wednesday we do 12 x 100m freesyle off 3.30. This means I do 100m freestyle and leave every 3.30. The faster I swim, the more rest I get. Our goal was to get all 12 under 3 minutes by the time I leave for Beijing. In the past I have usually gone 2.55 for about the first 3, them 3.05 all the way out to 3.15. Well, this week I not only got them ALL under 3 mins, I even did some 2.45s. Infact, for the first 8 100's I improved a second or more on each one!

I added a few new things into my training this week. The first is a wheat free diet, suggested by my nutritionist to help slim down to an ideal race weight with the perfect power to weight ratio. I miss bread already ( ok I have Gluten free bread, if you can call that bread- it falls apart when you touch it!).

The other is workouts with a personal trainer. I did my first one right before heading out to the pool for my 'gold medal' session. We did some boxercise ( where i wear boxing gloves and punch boxing pads the traininer holds up) as well as some weights and resistance training with a towel. A lot of fun, and , suprisingly it actually worked up a sweat and got my heart rate racing. My next session is on Sunday and I can't wait.

By the time I got home I had done 1 hour of boxing/personal training and 2 hours of swimming flat out.I was shivering and so tired I could hardly stay awake long enought to eat some pasta (wheat free of course!) before I crawled into bed at 5pm tired but happy. This is one day I won't forget, I will remember it on the blocks in Beijing and hopefully on the medal dais too....... that would mean it really was worth it!

Pre Games Functions

July 2008

This month has all been about pre Games functions, and scrambling to fit them all in around training.

Starting it all off was a fundraiser for Sunshine Coast athletes put on by The Weekender Magazine and Noosa Journal. Retired Olympic swimmers Tracy Stockwell (nee Caulkins) and Geoff Heugil were guest speakers. Being just a week after I got home from Sydney, I was still feeling sick and didnt have the energy to wash and dry my hair. So I came up with an ingenious solution- wearing a decorated hat to match my dress.You can imagine my horror when I arrived at the door of the Caloundra RSL feeling fabulous only to be asked to remove my hat due to the dress code!

Nonethless it was a lovely day and i enjoyed getting to know Olympic Swimmer Samantha Hamil and Kayaker Clint Robinsons parents, who were sitting at our table. Clint was my idol growing up, and I remember getting an autograph from him after he won a medal in Barcelona. He was doing a motorcade with Swimmer Olympian Lisa Currie kenny in a shiny red convertible, and I dressed up in green and gold for the occassion. They came through Palmwoods when I was on my way to horseriding lessons!

Next was the official announcement of Queenslanders selected for the Olympic and Paralympic games by Premier Anna Bligh at radio Nova in Brisbane. I decided to squeeze in a bike ride and swimming session before my mum and I drove down for this event, so ended up racing out the door with wet hair! I am so glad I went though, it was really inspiring to meet the other athletes and to hear my name announced as I walked up to meet the premier. The nova offices were very funky and modern with a bridge in the middle that each athlete walked accross, and blinding spotlights! I could harldy see where I was wheeling. It was also great to see paralympians and Olympians given equal recognition. Th night closed with singer Amy Pearson Singing "I'm ready to fly," the Channel 7 Olympic theme song (you'll know it from the tv ads).I have the song on my ipod as my Paralympic anthem!

The premier was also on hand at parliament house to farewell Olympians and Paralympians at a special grants ceremony at parliament house on friday 25 July. I sat between Stephanie Rice and Libby Trickett, who were both flying out the next day which made the Games feel really close all of a sudden! We were each presented with $5000 towards our training, which will be a big help. Queensland are the only state who do this so I am luck to live here. My family were able to share in this event, which was rather comical as my grandparents ended up brining their new dog! Malty is a litttle maltese cross who they adopted from the pound and frets when left alone. So if you would have walked into parliament house on friday you would have seen our car parked in the disabled spot right at the front door with little malty sitting inside wagging his tail importantly!

From parliament house I raced home to fit in a training session before heading out to a massage and yet another farewell function- this time the farewell to Sunshine Coast athletes at Peregian Springs gold club. Melanie Schlanger and I were the only two Olympians able to attend and I had a wonderful time. I even got to draw the raffle.It's great to know the whole Sunshine Coast is cheering for us!

A busy week in Sydney

Mon June 30-Sunday July 6th

This has been a busy week for me! Filming with the SBS, meeting my sponsors Thinking ergonomix, a swim team camp and a swimming race!

SBS Television Show Insight

On monday I flew down to Sydney as a guest of the SBS, as a guest of their televised debate program Insight.

The topic was "Going to China" what awaits our athletes at the upcoming controversial Beijing Games. It was all very exciting.Other guests included everyone from Former Olympic athlete Nova Peris to Budhist monks and there was a lot of stimulating discussion. Although the show wasnt filmed live, it was recorded pretty much as it would go to air. We even stopped for 'ad breaks' when the crew told us all to cough and fidget before filming started again!

I had a pretty good idea what jenny would ask me, as the lovely producer Christine had called me about 5 times in the week leading up to the program to go over fine details. We were being particularly cautious as I didnt want to jeopardise my place on the team for Beijing by saying something too controversial. Overall I think I answered the questions ok and even managed to mention to humanitarian crisis in Darfur, which is something I am passionate about. I have joined team Darfur,an international coalition of athletes seeking to raise awareness about the situation in Darfur.

I was thrilled to meet Olympic swimmer Michelle Engelsman, and to share a taxi back to my hotel with Nova Perris Kneebaone (one of my childhood heroes) after the shoot. The SBS kindly provided cab charge vouchers to make my way to the studio at Artamon and from the airport to the hotel.

After the show I wrote a blog for the SBS website which you can visit at:
http://news.sbs.com.au/insight/getting_political_hurts_athletes39_performance_550765

I finaly got back to the hotel about 10pm and still had to order dinner from roomservice (rissotto) and prepare for the next days activities.It was freezing in Sydney, and even with the heater on and my warmest Pyjamas it was hard to get warm and sleep. I was so tired, and thought I just needed sleep but it turned out to be the beginnings of the flu and a respiratory tract infection that would bother me all week. Talk about bad timing!

You can read the transcript of the program, or watch it online at
http://news.sbs.com.au/insight/going_to_china_550418

For me the trip brought back fond memories of my time travelling overseas, as I flew to Sydney by myself with the 3 bags of swimming gear and neat clothes (for the tv filming- being a typical girl I couldnt decide what to wear and packed about 5 options!).I then had to cart it around by myslef (I felt like a pack horse!).

Meeting my Sponsor: Thinking Ergonomix

Tuesday I spent with my sponsor Dean Kusch and the staff of thinking Ergonomix, in Sydney. Thinking Ergonomix is an ergonomic furniture company based in Sydney who have been kind enough to support my Beijing campaign by funding my training expenses. A HUGE thank you to Thinking Ergonomix!

Dean collected me from my hotel and we spent a lovely day at their factory. I even got to make a fashion statement in a spunky fluro yellow safety vest for a tour of the factory. Then we all got together for a lunch, where I shared my story with everyone and showed a powerpoint presentation with photos of my swimming career. What a wonderful bunch of people. And I am so excited to have a sponsor for the first time in my career.

After that it was back to the hotel so I could head out for a jog as my training session for the day. I got hopelessly lost and after trying to catch a monorail to central station found myself wandering lost around a shopping lamm on busy Pitt Street. Gosh there are a lot of people in Sydney compared to Maroohydore.

I just got back to my room intime to watch myself on TV when insight went to air. Then I sent a whole lot of emails to people I met on the show and wrote my blog for the SBS website while eating my roomservice dinner (rissotto again- why is there only ever one vegetarian option!)

Then it was time to pack and get some sleep before the swim camp tomorrow!

Paralympic Swim team Camp and Grand Prix 2 ( which is a swim race not a car race mum!)

From wednesday to Sunday the entire swim team of athletes and support staff got together at Rydges parramatta for our final camp and competition before Beijing.

The day we arrived, head coach BK pulled me aside to say he had watched me training and was really happy with my progress which was great to hear!

It was an exciting but busy few days, which included a great team building activity called Artrageous. We broke into six groups to paint canvass artworks depicting one of our team qualities. Our group had 'motivation' and we painted a giant chinese lucky coin to show we will work so hard and be so motivated that we won't need luck. We decorated it with our own handprints, which was a silly idea as I then had to get someone to push me to the sink so I didnt get black paint all over my wheels. Our 'artworks' (if you could call them that) will travel with us to Kuala Lumpur and Beijing.

Another thing we had to do was fill out forms for the drug testing authorities saying where we will be EVERY DAY from now until the Games. Quite a challenge when I have such a busy and varied schedule.

It was such a cold week that by the time the competition started I was feeling worse for wear with a cough, blocked nose, sore throut and difficulty breathing. Our legendary team Doc Lary put me on antibiotics to stop it developing into a chest infection. But as they say, the show must go on so I still had to race. I did my best in the races but didnt do very good times, which was disappointing. Though I really didnt feel well.We were racing the Olympians so I got knocked out in the heats on the first night, and spent the rest of the competition doing training sessions in the warm up pool.

I even got to meet Olympian Emily Seebhoms parents when I went to collect some POOS tshirts for my mum. The paralympians families have been invited to join POOS (Parents of our swimmers) which is a way for Olympians and paralympians families to get to know one athother. As everyone else was swimming I volunteered to take all the paralympians tshirts (probably not the best idea for someone in a wheelchair... I had to balance them all on my lap and the pile was so tall i couldnt see where I was going!).

After our final team meeting before we depart for our pregames camp in Kuala Lumpur it was hugs all round as we said to eachother excitedly "See you in Malaysia!"

With that we headed to the hotel for lunch, packed our bags in the buses and headed for the airport and bed...... where I spent the next week trying to recover from being sick. So frustrating,everytime I tried to train I was short of breath and had to take it easy. The joys of training in winter!

Sport Star of the Month

This week started on a high when I was announced as the joint senior 2008 Sunshine Coast Sport Star for May (I actually found out last week and it was really hard to keep a secret!).The award was announced by Advance Sports Sunshine Coast president Benny Pike at a breakfast held at Caloundra RSL (major sponsors of the awards, which are also supported by the weekender) to honour all the winner thus far.The breakfast guest list read like a who’s who of Sunshine Coast sport, including Beijing bound Olympian Samantha Hamill (swimming), Paul Fleming (boxing) and talented junior sport star of the month winners. Sunshine Coast Olympic great Denise Boyd was also there, representing her Beijing-bound daughter Alana Boyd (high jump) while Clint Robinson (kayaking) was represented by his father.I now join a host of other successful Coast athletes in the running for the prestigious Senior Sport Star of the year award, which will be announced in January. This award is really close to my heart because reading about previous winners in the newspaper when I was a child was one of the things that inspired me to train for the Paralympics. Plus, I love frocking up for a great night out at the awards. It is great to see Paralympians being recognised alongside Olympians and other elite athletes.I chose to share the morning with my closest fans and supporters: my mum, Marion, my boyfriend, Alex and my grandparents, Frankjie and John Borgh. On the training front I have been working hard on my handcycle, but the burn on my leg still hasn’t healed, so I have not been allowed to go swimming. I am emailing photos of the burn to our team doctor, Dr Lari (who is in Germany with the Aussie wheelchair basketball team), and am waiting to get the all clear to get back in the pool.All the rain we’ve had lately has been making it a bit hard to get out and about on my bike. I went out on the weekend and got bogged in a patch of mud. Then my tyres were so slippery they had no traction going up hills. So I’m now on a windtrainer in my lounge room. Here’s to sunshine and swimming again soon!

Starting my owm charitable foundation-"Sporting Dreams"

As some people may have read, I have recently launched a foundation called Sporting Dreams, which aims to help people with physical disabilities enjoy fun, fitness and personal development through sport and achieve their sporting dreams.

The idea came about last year when I won $10 000 in the Cosmopolitan fun fearless female awards ( a wonderful red carpet occassion- I even got to do a photoshoot for the magazine!)

Sporting Each year we will provide grants to beginner ($250) and developing athletes ($500) to cover equipment, training and competition costs, which are significantly higher for athletes with disabilities.

Twenty per cent of Australians have a disability*, and face additional costs to get physically active. For an able-bodied child to try out the sport of cycling, their parents can hire a bike or pick one up for about $100. A child in a wheelchair needs a basic handcycle costing $1500, then a racing one costing up to $12,000. A pair of running shoes costs about $200 and a racing wheelchair costs up to $3000. So, as you can see, there is great need for this charity.

Recently, when I decided to take up handcycling as a form of cross training, I was astonished to find my racing bike would cost $6000. So I know first hand just how much a grant like this can mean.

When I was 12 I remember my family really couldn't afford the $500 it would cost for me to compete at the Junior Wheelchair Nationals in Sydney. A local builder came forward and offered me the money after there was a story about it in the local paper. I have never forgotten that kind gesture. Not only did it enable me to travel to Sydney and break my first Australian records, it made me feel like someone believed in me and I wanted to swim well to say 'thank you’. It is exactly this kind of inspiration and experience I hope to give up and coming athletes through my charity.

Being involved in sport at all levels increases self-esteem, encourages independence and enhances quality of life. More importantly, acknowledging an athlete with a grant does far more than provide vital funds, it also sends an inspiring message that “we believe in you.”

One thing I think is very important is there are no age restrictions. We help young kids getting started, as well as adults who have perhaps just had an accident and are finding out about disability sport for the first time.

Sporting Dreams is the culmination of a lifelong ambition for me to give something back to sport and leave a legacy for future athletes. It all came about when I won the inaugural Fun Fearless Female award from Cosmopolitan magazine. Along with a glossy photoshoot and my story appearing in the magazine, I was flown to Sydney for a makeover and red carpet event where I was presented with a cheque for $10,000 to make my dream come true. I am proud to be partnering with the Sporting Wheelies and Disabled Association (the peak body in Queensland for athletes with disability), who will administer Sporting Dreams on my behalf.

Here is the newspaper story about the launch http://www.thedaily.com.au/news/2008/jun/30/paraplegic-swimmers-mission/


WHAT CAN YOU DO TO HELP?
Spread the word about Sporting Dreams. If you are an athlete with a disability, or know someone who could be helped by a grant, please download an application form from http://www.sportingdreams.org/.

Donate. For $250 you can put a smile on the face of a child with disability by helping them to get started in a sport. For $1000 you can support a future champion by helping a developing athlete with disability. You will get a motivational speech by myself and have a grant named after your company/organisation.

Already, local support has been fantastic, with Katie Mawditt from Infinity Graphic Innovations donating her time to create the Sporting Dreams website . The lovely Sporting Dreams logo was created by Coast graphic designer Kylie Jackat of Dalee Designs, and donations have been received from the Caloundra Zonta Club, E-Noosa realty and Apex Queensland.


TRAINING UPDATE

Meanwhile, I have been busy pursuing my own sporting dream of a medal in Beijing. I have been back in the water for several weeks now, after burning my leg. Even though I had been training by riding my bike daily while I wasn’t able to swim, the first day was quite a shock to the system and left me very tired … so much so that on the way home from the pool I accidentally drove home to my mum’s house, which I moved out of seven years ago.

The countdown to the Games is well and truly on and I look forward to representing Australia on the world stage.

In the meantime, don’t forget, if you would like to support Sporting Dreams, visit www.marayke.com or www.sportingdreams.org

With thanks to Infinity Graphic Innovations, Katie Mawditt; Apex Queensland; the Zonta Club of Caloundra; and Thinking Ergonomix.

100 days to go!

100 days to go

This week marks 100 days until the Beijing Paralympics, and preparations are well under way.



Team Camp in Canberra

Immediately after trials I took a few days off to recover, before getting together with my coach to plan m program until Beijing. Then the entire Olympic and Paralympic swim teams converged on the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra for our first staging camp. This was the first time the entire Paralympic team of athletes, coaches and support staff had been together, so the purpose of the camp was really to get to know each other and to ‘gel’ as a team, as well as to meet the team coaches who will be working with us in Beijing. The week was peppered with all the usual ‘get to know you’ icebreakers, as well as serious subjects such as sports psychology and nutrition. By far the most fun we had was preparing for our team skit night with our coaching group of five swimmers. The task was to take 20 photos around Canberra. Seeing as how the Olympic torch was coming through, our group made a pretend torch with cellophane and took turns running it past all the landmarks from Parliament House and the war memorial to the Chinese embassy. Before we attended the dawn service at the war memorial we were fortunate enough to have a speech by former defence force chief General Peter Cosgrove on Anzac day eve. He sought to give us an Anzac hero we could identify with through the story of ‘Diver’ Derek, a WWI digger who displayed true mateship and was viewed as leader by all his colleagues. Diver refused to take the easy option, and refused to give in. Even when he was finally sent home from the war and given awards to recognise his contribution, he wanted to get back amidst his mates on the battle field and 'get the job done.' He suggested we might start a war cry ‘Go diver’ to cheer each other on.



Marayke versus Leisel Jones: Australia's top breaststrokers go head to head.

I found myself on the blocks beside world record holder and Olympian Leisel Jones when we joined with the Olympians to compete in Grand Prix 1,a short course competition at the end of the camp. It was the 50m breaststroke and, predictably, she was finished by the time I turned around at the halfway point. We joked we should have got her not to use her legs so it was a more fair race. But it was a real buzz all the same. The team spirit of our team compared to the Olympic team made me so proud. Every time a Paralympian raced there were cheers from teammates, and then deafening silence when Olympians stood on the blocks. I know which team I’d rather be in! Last thing before heading to the airport we got our immunisations (ouch I hate needles) and my arm was sore for the next week.



Training hard

I came back from Canberra super motivated to train. But the past fortnight hasn’t exactly gone the way I wanted. I have accidentally burnt my leg and been out of the water on doctors’ orders. How did I burn my leg, you may ask? The truth is I don’t know. Because I am paraplegic I cannot feel my legs, so I have to be super careful not to burn, cut or scrape them. On this occasion I was cleaning my fish tank with cold water when I looked down and noticed blisters. It should take roughly three weeks to heal. I refuse to let this burn stop me training and being fit for Beijing, so I have switched my focus to cross training out of the pool. Six days a week I ride my handcycle (a bike I pedal with my arms) from my house in Maroochydore over to Alexandra Headlands Hill to Mooloolaba and back – twice. It is a round trip of 20-30km taking up to three hours. At night I do weights training at home or use my handcrank for a further one hour of exercise. So all in all I am still getting fitter and stronger. In amongst it all I was invited to be guest speaker for the Apex state conference at Mudjimba, where the Apexians kindly donated $1000 to my charity, Sporting Dreams. Meanwhile my Mum and my sister have finally booked to come and watch me in Beijing. We had to order their opening ceremony tickets before I even knew if I was on the team (no pressure on me!)



Moving up in the world rankings

The latest swimming world rankings have also come out. I am now ranked fourth in the world for the 150m Individual Medley and third in the 50m breaststroke (unfortunately this event is not being held in Beijing).



Signing my Games contract

The simple act of signing my name was all it took to make it official. The large contract came in the mail and my boyfriend, Alex, was happy to witness my signature. In 100 days 4000 athletes from 150 countries will take place in the 13th Paralympic Games from September 6-17. The Games will consist of 20 sports and athletes will use the same venues as the Olympics, which finish two weeks earlier. Until then I will train twice a day six days a week so I have 84 more training sessions to do. That’s 84 more chances to put together the race of a life time.

Yay I made the team and am going to Beijing! I am so excited. Congratulations to all the swimmers selected.

You can read all about the team announcement in my blog post below

Marayke is going to Beijing

Australian paralympic swim team announced

It all started for me when one of my all time Paralympic heroes Brendan Burkett (now sport scientist for the team) tracked me down in a hallway (coming out of the toilets of all places!) to say "It's official you're going. Now you need to go over to that hallway on the far side of the diving pool to get ready for the announcement" From there it was a flurry of activity, camera flashes and hugs and we scrambled to get into the matching white Addidas t-shirts we would wear for our big moment.

Then we had to line up alphabetically with girls on one side of the room and boys on the other. Just as we were lined up one swimmer whom I thought had missed out, Kat Lewis Athens Paralympian, walked in and I was so happy for her. She had been sick and hadn't swum as well as she'd hoped. I'd actually heard she retired. Then again, there seems to be a rumour going around that I retired too. When I arrived on the first day most of the swimmers said "hi Marayke, are you here commentating?"!

Once is line, we proceeded down the same long hallway where I learnt that I was going to Athens 4 years ago. Here we waited single file, chatting amongst ourselves and with the inevitable fits of giggles rippling through the girls' line whenever we were told to be quiet.

One by one our names were announced to the crowd (pretty much an empty grandstand spare about 30 family and friends, which was probably one of the only downsides to the night). When my name was called it was my turn to walk out across the end of the pool past an honour guard of past Paralympians ( Many my past team mates: Alistair Smales, Megan Grant, Alicia Jenkins, Jessica Smith, Brendan Burkett). Then it was on to shake hands with Darren Peters, CEO of the Australian Paralympic Committee and finally our headcoach Brendan Keogh ( by then I was so excited I thought a hug was far more suitable than a handshake). We all assembled in rows in front of the media banner for photos with lots of jostling and discussion about who was taller/shorter etc. Just when we had it perfect the photographer announced he actually wanted a picture with the pool behind us so we all had to move down the other end! We did and eventually we got a lovely arial photo with the photographer standing up in the grandstand looking down on us. We got one of just the Queenslanders too, for Swimming QLD.

I had the most amazing suprise after that, a blast from the past as some would call it. Way back in 1994 when I was 14 years old in hospital having a spinal fusion operation and stuck lying down in bed for months I shared a room with a little boy I will never forget. His name way Eliah and he had been involved in a terrible accident with a tiger in a circus across the road from the hospital. Eliah had lost his arms. I remember very little of my time in hospital but I remember his family frantically calling relatives trying to let them know before they heard the news on a tv.I remember the extraordinary grief of a father whose tigon (cross between a lion and a tiger), like a baby to him, had mauled his own son. And I remember the cheek of the media..... camping outside emergency trying to get in. I could see them out my window.One day Eliah and I were alone in our private room when a man walked in with a bunch of flowers. The nurses must have thought he was a relative, but he turned out to be a journalist trying to sneak in and get an interview. No unknown visitors were allowed after that. It certainly made me think about ethics, and when I studied journalism at uni I sure knew what sort of journalist I DIDN'T want to be. I really admired Eliah for being so brave and adorable and felt for his family. Four days later he was transferred to another hospital and though I never expected to see him again the memory of those days has never left me. So standing in line waiting to have my photo taken with the team no one could have beenn more suprised than me when Eliah walked past! He has just started swimming and was racing at his first National titles. GO ELIAH!!! Goodluck I hope to see you swim at the Paralympics in London!!!!

I hardly had time to say hi and introduce myself to Eliah (he, of course didn't remember me) before I was being hustled away to the official team meeting for members of the Australian Paralympic Swim Team. We gathered back in the room this time to sit down and hear from BK. He read out all the people making their third, second and first paralympic team. I was amazed to be the only female going to my third Games. After a while the clapping was dragging on so a 2 clap rule was brought in...leading to a rather funny rhythmic accompaniment as each name was read out.This team is filled with the most amazing people, even something like a formal meeting is fun.Then we heard from swimming Australia CEO Glenn Tasker, our sport psychologist and retired swimmer Alistair Smales. Suddenly the lights dimmed and we watched a slide show of team members in Athens and at World Champs. BK then spoke about the road that has got us to this point and what we need to do in the future. He told us about the Australian coat of arms ( which we were all wearing on our t-shirts). Did you know the kangaroo and the Emu are the only two animals in the world who can't walk backwards? We all need to be kangaroos in our preparation to Beijing......take no backwards steps and make decisions that will have a positive impact on our performance.

Then with that it was over bar getting a handout with important dates etc for the next few months.

By the time the meeting ended the pool was closing, so everyone headed to the Novotel bar with their families and we has a great time. I caught a cab and finally got home at 2am.

Relief is definitely the emotion that sums today up best for me.

I had expected to cry when I found out I made the team, but there was never really a wow moment. When Brendan Burkett first told me he was really just in a rush to cross names off his list and get us all organised. So it wasn't really a huge celebratory moment.

Plus I had an inkling I was going after I raced, seing as BK was so happy with my time.

Then at about 3pm I got a text message from BK saying

"Hi swimmers please bring your white APC t-shirt tonight.

Meet at the end of the pool when swimming finished.Thanks, BK"

Well back in 2004 at the Athens trials we all got a letter saying meet at the end of the pool for the announcement. My roomate Brooke Stockham and I really hoped it meant something, we carried it around and practically slept with it. But we didn't know for sure if it meant we made it on the team until the announcement. I thought everyone got it but it turned out those who didn't make the team didn't get the letter.So this time when I got a text about what to wear and where to meet and some other swimmers didn't I was pretty sure that meant I had a seat on the plane! At least it spared me the sick in the stomach feeling some people had when we arrived at the pool.

It was a great end to a long day. I was up at 6.30am to leave for the pool. Apparently there is meant to be bad traffic and the 10 minute drive to the pool can take 1 1/2 hours. But I was in luck- no traffic - so I got to the pool 3 hours early for my 50m breaststroke! After the race I jumped into the warm spa which really seemed to stop me getting sore. Must remember that trick. Then I went back to the hotel and started this blog to keep everyone up to date. I feel like I made two great achievements today, making the team and FINALLY working out how to get online in this hotel room (took many phonecalls to reception!)

Now trials are over and it is time to start the hard training

161 days to go (I'm not counting or anything!)

take care

xoxooxoox marayke xooxooxox

Marayke's beijing Blog

Hi and welcome to my Beijing Blog

I plan to use this blog to keep you all up to date with news from the Olympic and Paralympic swimming selection trials. Hopefully, if all goes to plan I will be selected in the Australian team which will be announced on March 28 on pool deck at the trials. First I have to swim fast enough to qualify. I have my one and only chance to qualify

Fingers crossed Iwill make it!

Here's how the trials have unfolded for me so far:

Day 1 Monday 24/03/08

Well I have arrived in Sydney for the Paralympic trials and the emotional roller coaster ride that is a Paralympic year has begun- only stop in September when when the fireworks at the closing ceremony fade out and the flag is handed to London for 2012

I am really excited about my race now. Being in Sydney where my Paralympic dream began has really taken me back to my roots and reminded me how much I love swimming – and HOW MUCH I WANT TO GO TO BEIJING!

The flight down was great. At 11.50 I flew out of Maroochy Airport, Mum and my boyfriend Alex were there to see me off. I left a rainy windy Sunshine Coast to emerge into beautiful Sydney sunshine. A lovely couple shared my luggage trolley to the taxi line (I paid, they pushed). And now I am at the Novotel Olympic Park. Novotel is at Olympic Park in Homebush, where the Sydney Olympics were held and is walking distance to the pool, stadium Australia and even the Royal Easter Show which is being held here this week.

The hotel is really nice and the ends of the toilet paper are even folded into a neat triangle! Out the window I can see the Royal Easter Show, Stadium Australia, the train station and way off in the distance are Centrepoint tower and the Harbour Bridge.

But it is all the memories that have really helped get my psyched up. I remember the first time I saw the Sydney Olympic Pool. I was in a bus with the QLD team for the National Disabled Championships in 1999 and everyone was singing along to the radio when there it was- the pool here I hoped all my dreams would come true at the Sydney 2000 Paralympics. I took a quiet moment amongst the chaos to say to myself “this is the most beautiful pool in the world and I am going to swim SUPER FAST here.” The side we drove up to it on was facing the grass mound so it looked like the whole pool was underground and I remember thinking that is really unique.

Then there was the first time I swam in the pool- and qualified for the Paralympic team. And my first Paralympic race- 150 IM, which was the first event on the first day with thousands of cheering Aussies in the stands.

I remember the first time I stayed in this hotel too. The whole paralympic team was here together for the Sydney trials and we would get SO EXCITED if we were sharing an elevator with Ian Thorpe or Susie O'Neil.

I was such a rookie traveler I didn’t know your could turn the airconditioning down and slept with all my clothes on to stay warm! And then there was this mysterious silver thing on the bathroom wall that turned out to be a pull out washing line.

After every heats and final session we would gather in the meeting room for a meal and team manager Tracy Lawrence would check our times off aginst her list to see if we’d qualified for the team. It was in the dining hall of this very hotel that I first heard the words "Congratulations Marayke Jonkers Paralympian". Our names even made it into the Sydney newspapers.

Straight after these trials we flew overseas to Holland and England and my luggage nearly got left behind. We were away for 3 weeks so no way could I carry it all. I called for a porter to our floor, put my bags at the door and he accidently took someone else's and left mine!

Somewhere around here is a brick with my name on it in a pathway of Sydney competitors- though I’ve never found it after many attempts looking over the years. I did find my name on a pole in an installation artwork near Stadium Australia which is amazing.


I went over to the pool to watch the finals and to catch up with my former coach Sacha to discuss our plan for the next few days. My coach Mike couldn't make the trip down so Sacha is helping me with my warm up and to get my fastskin on (no easy task!)I didn't manage to find her (I suspect the crowd was so loud with all the cheering she didn’t hear her mobile when I rang).But I am so glad I went over to the pool. At first I was a bit tired and wanted to stay in and watch it on the tv (plus I didn’t want to miss Home and Away!). But after watching one race on channel I decided to stop being lazy and walk over- the atmosphere is huge and it is great to catch up with familiar faces and see such top level swimming. Now it is 10pm and I’m so hyped up I can't get to sleep-swim meets tend to do that for me. I end up running on adrenalin all week.

I caught up with my friend and team mate Esther, and her mum offered to help with my fastskin which is really lovely. Apparently we can ask to try the new speedo LZR racing suit which I am really keen to do.

At the pool Annabelle Williams broke the world record for 50m fly and Sam beat Matt Cowdrey in the 400 free. Exciting stuff. Leisel and Tarnee White qualified for the 100m breast and I was so thrilled for Tarnee, who missed the Athens team. I really admire the way Matt Welsh handled coming third and missing the Olympic team to two newcomers. He then retired from swimming.What an exciting night!

The first thing I did when I walked in the door from watching the finals was start my motivation wall- a pre race ritual I use at all important meets. Usually I write my target time on a gold star and tack it to the wall. This time I have made a special picture of myself holding a Beijing gold medal surrounded by images of the Water cube, Beijing village and mascot. It really helps me to visualize myself swimming there.

The other pre race ritual is painting my nails- a bright cheery shade of red.But I will do that tomorrow so they are nice and fresh on race day.

On TV I saw that the Olympic flame is lit in Olympia today – totally inspring. They were worried about rain as the rays of the sun light the flame. Apparently there is a small controversy about a new rule that priestesses lighting the flame have to be aged under 40 and good looking! Crazy, they should have come to my body image talk on International Womens' day.

Finally, I have promised myself to begin this Games diary and keep it updated all the way through to Beijing. Every Paralympics I promise myself to do this and it doesn’t happen, so third time lucky. I will just have to make the team so I can have at least one Paralympic games diary to show for a 12 year swimming career.

Take care until next time xoxooxox

Marayke



Day 2- Tuesday March 25, 2008

I had a quiet day today, resting up before I race. With the time difference I didn’t get to sleep till just past midnight here, and woke up at 10.25 am. It was rainy and grey outside so I decided not to go to the show and opted to stay inside and read book instead. I bought Mike Zupans ( star of the oscar nominated wheelchair rugby movie 'murderball' ) autobiography about wheelchair rugby at the airport so I would have something to keep me occupied.

In the afternoon I went to Muffin Break downstairs and had a spinach and feta pie with salad and tried to buy a paper to read but they were all sold out. The one in the coffee shop was a week old.

One thing I needed to do today was sort out accommodation for the end of the week. I made a booking here back in November, but they were booked out from Thursday so I have to move. In fact every disabled room within a 30 min drive is booked out! Novotel Darling Harbour are getting back to me about whether my wheelchair will fit through a standard door. For some strange reason they said they had to get the engineering department to investigate ( not sure why they couldnt just use a ruler or tapemeasure!).But that was a week ago and still no word.

A lovely lady at reception rang them for me and they haven't found an engineer yet because it was easter (ridiculous, I didn't need an engineer just to tell me the width of a door!). Lucky the lovely lady rang around for me and found Courtyard Hotel in North Ryde. Meant to be 10 min drive and they had a cancellation in the disabled room. SoI finally have somewhere to stay!

While I was at reception I saw the newsbreaks about protests at the torch lighting in Olympia. It really is just awful. I’d love to see a free Tibet, and I hate hearing horrorstories like that half China's organ donations come from executed prisoners. Infact the family of the prisoner even gets billed for the bullet. Amnesty international estimate about 30 prisoners each year are wrongly convicted and executed because their 'confession' was gained under torture. An Olympic boycott looks unlikely, and no one is even mentioning the Paralympics in the boycott debate. So I'm trying to stay focused on swimming. But I hope all this focus on China can make a difference. I’m sure if I wasn’t an athlete I would be protesting. But I don’t think I could give up the chance to compete. From experience I can say that the Olympics and Paralympics are a unique way of achieving peace. When the youth of the world come together to celebrate sport,then share a bus and a meal in the village together afterwards something special happens. Barriers are broken down, friendships are formed.Sport is a language for peace.

I talked to my boyfriend Alex at night just before the finals. He is good but tired. Our washing machine is fixed which is great. Oma (my grandma) went to my unit to let the repairman in as I was down here and Alex was at TAFE.

I plan to watch Home and Away, then head over to the pool to watch a bit of the finals before coming back for a room service dinner and an early night. Must catch up with Sacha and make sure I am entered for the time trial.


Well…………goodnight. I will write again tomorrow. Hopefully with news about a good swim xoxoxxox


Day Three- Race day

Yahoo it’s over.It is now 10pm and I am writing this before I go to bed exhausted but happy.

So this morning was my big race- 150m IM time trial. My one and only chance to qualify for Beijing.

I am pretty happy with the way it went and confident that I managed myself well enough to put in my best performance. I did a 3.39.79, which places me ranked 7th in the world. It isn't a personal best time but is the fastest I have gone in 2 years and shows I am making progress.

So here’s how the day went.

8.30 am wake up- I set 2 alarm clocks and woke up every few hours automatically to check the time. This is one day I definitely don’t want to oversleep!


I needed to be at the pool at 10am today. So I set the alarm for 8.30 am and had breakfast downstairs in the restaurant-lots of cheese and fruit. Yum! Then I came upstairs to grab my bag and had an anxious 10 min wait for the elevator to get downstairs to the pool ( felt like it would never come) Then I walked over and met another swimmer who I had heard about but not met yet- so nice to put a face to a name. We pushed over to the pool together.

10am I met another S3 swimmer Esther and her mum and coach Sam on the way into the pool and Esther's mum helped with my fastskin. I really appreciated it. The new fastskin was very tight- but that’s good it should help me swim faster!

10.30 am All suited up and ready to go I headed to the warm up pool to find Sacha and plan my warm up. I jumped in and did 300 easy, some turns, then a 12.5m effort of each stroke swim back. I really want to focus on my start, turn and finish. After that it was another 150 easy and then it was time to jump out and head to marshalling. The MD 100m free was on just as I finished warming up so I didn’t get to see everyone race.

I went to marshalling and they are taking our accreditation while we race- this is a first. I had marked my name off and sat down in a corner to get in the zone, when the marshalling lady came over and said “Is that the cap you are wearing to race?” I had on my Maroochydore Club cap.

It turned out that I wasn’t allowed to wear the cap because it has the brand name eyeline written on it twice, and no advertising is allowed. They looked over my other caps and couldn’t decide whether I could wear my uniform dolphins cap because it had the old telstra logo instead of the new one. So finally we settled for an Australia cap, which although it said speedo, was allowed because speedo is a sponsor of the meet and Swimming Australia. All this was a distraction I didn’t really need....so I decided to go back to the corner. Then another swimmer came to chat. After a while I decided I would just have to explain that I wanted to focus so I did and put my goggles on.Eventually we walked down the back corridor to the other end of the pool. I kept my dolphins jacket on till I got in the pool for warmth.I usually get freezing in the drafty corridors before I race because I am wet from warming up.

11..29am- Race

After my race was announced I marched out behind lane 3. I climbed to the side of the pool and jumped in when the whistle blew to get set up for a backstroke start. The water was warmer than I thought. I swallowed some in my start though- which sucked. Then we were away. I went out hard, hoping a fast backstroke while I still felt fresh would help. After the turn I thought the clock said 1.09 but afterwards I found out I’d done a 1.08 which is awesome. The breaststroke felt long but I tried to keep the pace up. When I turned into freestyle I had a fright thinking the male swimmer Grant was beating me and he said he expected to swim a 3.45- so I really put the power on and raced home. I could hear people cheering which meant a lot….I think it was my friend Amanda and her family. On the freestyle leg I saw BK (Paralympic head Coach Brendan Keogh) up waving me along with his program when I took a breath. I wonder whether I should have breathed head up-I did sideways- this is a running debate I have with myself. Breathing head up like a surf swimmer is faster but hurts my neck, whereas sideways breathing (which I did today) is better for me but I think a little slower.

11.32 It’s over, relief fills my body as I turn to the score board and see my time is 3.29.8- and inside the top 8 in the world! It should be good enough to make my third Paralympics. I then mortally embarrass myself twice getting out of the pool. First I couldn’t see which side of the pool my chair was on, so I didn’t know where to get out.

Then I realised it was to my left so I rushed over there and swam under 3 lane ropes surfacing in lane 8 only to realize I was stuck under a giant Telstra banner and couldn’t surface to breathe. Rapidly choking I eventually got out and was too busy to greet BK, Sacha and Grub who all were there to congratulate me. BK said Well done you got your priority 4 selection time and that’s all you needed to do. So I felt so HAPPY!

11.40 warm down in the pool then wheel down. One of the coaches Peter Freeney helped lift me out of the warm down pool- darn annoying I can't do it myself in this tight fastskin!

1pm – back in the hotel, I changed and went down to Subway for lunch. SMSed Mum and Mike with the news. Mum said she won't come to Sydney to watch the team announcement as she has the flu.

Then I decided to celebrate and headed to the Easter Show where I met the Drennans ( Wayne, Ann, Kelly and Amanda). We explored and went on a ride courtesy of their friend Russel who owns a ride. I felt sick and my neck was starting to hurt so I called it quits after one ride. I must be getting old and boring.We ended the night watching the show – rodeo, horses and dancing bobcats, motorcross and precision driving capped off by fireworks.

Now I’m home in my hotel room and my mobile phone isn’t working. I need to wash my towells etc………but I am so tired and sore it will have to wait. Moving hotel tomorrow morning


Take care and goodnight!

marayke

Day 4


I can’t believe how relaxed I am compared to the Athens trials 4 years ago. Now my race is over there’s nothing more I can do so I am just having fun. I remember last time spending the day before the team announcement at DFO shopping and being just so distracted and desperate. Today I was just at the show having fun. And all the others seem so nervous and I am reassuring them. I remember an older swimmer Alistair Smales doing that with me and Brooke last time and I thought he was being far too casual about the whole thing. Maybe I’m just getting old!

I didn't have any races today, but I did have to move hotel. So I packed and checked out at 11am. Then I put my bags in storage and went to the show…was so much fun. I loved the petting zoo. Now I want a pet goat they are SOOOO cute. I saw a cow milking show, dog and cat shows, stalls, craft, cakes, food.....the show is HUGE!

Luckily when I woke up I wasn’t feeling sore anymore.

I took a taxi to North Ryde, the driver was from Athens and really lovely. We talked all about Greece.

Now I’m in my room watching the swimming on tv. Wish I was there. Apparently it will take me an hour to get to the pool so I have to leave before 8am

Ordered risotto from room service. The hotel seems to be in the middle of nowhere.

I’m going to eat then head to bed for an early start

Goodnite

11pm.....just been woken up by a ringing phone. It was reception asking if I enjoyed my dinner and telling me to put my plate outside. I said sorry but I'm in bed asleep- and they didn't even apologise. Strange hotel. No one helped with my bags when I arrived either.We stood at the counter for ages while the two staff had a conversation ignoring me. the taxi driver got a trolley and did it in the end, and they still didn't offer to help. When we brought it back the driver said 'hey guys I could've stolen your trolley' and still they said nothing!

Grrrrrrrrrrr now it is hard to get back to sleep.

Day 5 - 50m breaststroke and Team Announcement

Today is a big day. I was up at 6.30am.

In the end I got there 3 hours early so I had breakfast at the cafe in the pool. Sacha helped with my fastskin and then I did a warm up by myself and went to do my race. We were in marshalling for ages and the door was open with cold air blowing in. By the time I had to race I was purple and shivering!

After the swim I got lunch at Muffin Break then hailed a taxi from outside Novotel.

Now I am in my room resting. I finally worked out how to hook up FIFI my laptop to the internet thanks to some help from reception so am setting up this blog. Will fill you in on the announcement tonight when I get home. Five hours till I know if I'm going to Beijing!!!!!!

3.38- Just got an sms from BK saying swimmers please bring your white APC Tshirt to the pool tonight.This sounds promising! The chosen team members are to wear it for the announcement.