Hannah Miley: Relief as London becomes reality

I qualified for the 400m and 200m individual medley at last month’s trials and I was really happy with the whole week.

It was the first time competing in the London Aquatics Centre, my times were nice and fast and the atmosphere was just amazing. There were about 2,500 spectators – there are going to be about eight times as many at the Olympics so I can hardly imagine what it is going to be like, especially considering that the majority are going to be cheering for Team GB.

This week, I have been back at the Aquatics Centre for the first British team National Training Camp. It is great to be able to soak up more of the excitement and feelings of anticipation that is growing every day. It’s now less than four months until I face the swim of my life. The London pool is pretty spectacular. Everything has been done to make it the very best for the swimmers. One thing I do know, it is going to be very noisy when I line up for the 400m individual medley on the first day of the swimming competition, July 28.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to go to the recent opening of the refurbished Royal Commonwealth Pool in Edinburgh. But I’ve heard great reports about it and it is going to be the perfect place for the Olympic holding camp. Team GB swimmers will be using the Edinburgh pool for a camp starting on July 18. It will be nice to be so close to home in the final countdown to London.

Since the trials, it has been back to hard work in training, but I’ve also managed to squeeze in a few fun things. I stayed down in London and did three days of media work with my sponsors Kellogg’s and then I went to Amsterdam for a few races just to keep things ticking over.

I then went to Sheffield and did a photo shoot with Simon Wright for his www.gbswimstars.com website. It’s something that I’ve been wanting to do for a while. Simon is great at capturing the energy of swimming – and its also good to break the stereotype that I am someone who is always in swimwear or a tracksuit. But it is essential that I stay grounded. That’s the way that I cope with the pressure. My family also help keep my feet on the ground. Dad (Patrick) has been busy recently with his work as an off-shore helicopter pilot, but he is still keeping me very busy in the pool.

Our swimmer/coach relationship works really well and I now leave it up to him and I trust him completely to organise my programme for the next few months. Overall, I think we have a really strong Olympics team. I was delighted that my Red Sky management colleagues – Robbie (Renwick), Michael (Jamieson) and Craig (Benson) – all came through. Caitlin McClatchey is the fifth Scot on the team so far. She swam in Athens and Beijing so has loads of experience. Craig is just 17 and it is so good to see young guys coming through – especially when they are Scottish!

• Hannah Miley is the European and Commonwealth Games 400m individual medley Champion and she won the silver medal at the World Championships in Shanghai last July. She has qualified to compete for Team GB in the 400m and 200m individual medley at the Olympic Games starting in London on July 27. Hannah is sponsored by Kellogg’s www.kelloggs.co.uk/freeswim