Friday 25th Julyback to top
Leaving Manchester today to go to Osaka , Japan for my Olympic holding camp. Early flight to London where I met the rest of the team we were dressed in our jogging bottoms and t-shirts all looking very smart. 12 Hour flight to Osaka which was a very long way but the flight was good.
Saturday 26th Julyback to top
Arrived in Osaka and stayed in the Osaka Bay Tower on the 42nd floor!! Each day we got the train 1 stop to the pool which was fantastic! A 12 lane 50 m pool with unlimited times to train there was a banner welcoming Team GB to Osaka .
Wednesday 30th July back to top
Had the afternoon off training so I went to the 100 Yen shop (50p) and bought a few bits and pieces, later we went to play pool with a few other team mates – Melanie Marshall, Ross Davenport, Euan Dale and David Carry. I lost as usual!!
Friday 1st August back to top
Today I met the Mayor of Japan; we went to meet him at the City Hall.
We all got presented with a medal from the Mayor.
The medal was designed with Osaka City Hall , Osaka castle and the “miotsukushi”
The official emblem for the City of Osaka . On the reverse are the “sakura”, cherry blossoms and the pansy which were designated Osaka City flowers on July 1 st 1987 (the year I was born)
Later that evening we had a quiz night – some of the questions are on my message board
Monday 4th August back to top
Today we travel to Beijing !! After arriving at the airport there was a French team already checking in to go on the same flight, the only problem was the French kit is nearly the same as the British kit – out travelling bags were exactly the same colour!! The only difference was instead of Team GB their bags just had France , a nightmare when we were collecting our bags on the other end!
After arriving at the airport in Beijing we went through a special Olympic passport channel picked up our bags and went to collect our accreditations – very exciting!!
As we were leaving the airport there were a few camera crews and lots of photographers and I nearly ran into the back of one my team mates – Andy Hunter because I was being chased by a camera crew!!
A volunteer asked for a photo with me and gave me a good luck charm to say thanks!
When we arrived at the village we had to go through security and wait for our bags to go through “customs”. We then walked to our apartment block C2, checked out our rooms which were very nice kitted out with a telly, DVD player, fridge, couches and bean bags from B&Q which made the apartment very nice and homely.
Tuesday 5th August back to top
Went for a swim at the water cube – National Aquatic Centre.
Inside was amazing!! The pool was very deep but fast, I couldn't wait to get in and race.
Back to the village and off to my favourite place – main dining!! There was such a good variety of food to choose from – Asian, Mediterranean and International with a salad, bread, fruit and desert bar. Situated in the far corner of the dinning hall was Mc Donald's!
The next few days were very similar eat, train and sleep!!
Olympic Games - Day 1 back to top
Missed going to the opening ceremony tonight as I am swimming tomorrow, but we watched it on the telly. Mark Foster did GB proud flying our flag. Got woken up at 12 am by the fireworks which were the most amazing fireworks I have seen
Olympic Games - Day 2 back to top
Went to the pool early did my warm up, spoke to my coach and put my racing suit on. Went off to the call room where I waited for my race to start – 400 Individual Medley Heat – 4.38. – I was a little disappointed with my swim I really was hoping to make it to the final but it wasn't to be this time! Again the next few days were similar eating, training and sleeping.
Olympic Games - Day 4 back to top
Day of my 200 I.M – Looking forward to it, hoping to make the semi final. Felt good in the warm up and ready to swim well – 200 Individual Medley Heat – 2.12.7 – So close to my Personal Best again came 7 th in my heat but still make the semi final, I was very happy I made the final.
Olympic Games - Day 5 back to top
Swam in the 200 I.M semi finals this morning – 200 Individual Final – 2.14 - Not a very good swim today, not sure what went wrong but I need to get back into training for my 10K marathon swim.
Olympic Games - Day 7 back to top
WOW!! What a great day, Rebecca Adlington has just won her second Olympic gold medal!! She is such a star. Our best swimmer of the Olympics games. I am so proud of her!! In this picture is Rebecca (right) and our Physio Emma Deakin (she is the best physio ever!!)
Olympic Games - Day 10 back to top
After David Davies had finished his 1500m Final Cassie, David and myself went off to the Open water venue Shungyi park we stayed in the Eastern gardens which was a very nice hotel.
For the next few days we will train for the race on Wednesday.
Olympic Games - Day 13 back to top
Today is the day of my 10k swim, not really knowing what to expect from this race as I am seeded 8 th from the Olympic qualifiers back in March. In the picture above I am on the far left and in the middle is Natalie Du Toit the disabled swimmer who also swam the 10k. She is such an inspiration to everyone, it just shows you can do what you put your mind to!! She finished 16 th out of 25 swimmers she really is an amazing person!!
Got very nervous for this race and couldn't wait to see what the result would be.
I didn't have any real tactics when I started all I knew was that I wanted to be in the lead so I didn't have to struggle in the pack behind, I did that easily and lead for over 9.5k of the race with my team mate Cassie Patten.
I didn't see the Russian girl at the end until she was already at my hip and there was nothing I could have done about it then apart from try my hardest to beat her! I finished second and won myself an OLYMPIC SILVER MEDAL!!! Wooooo
I have never been so happy! I couldn't believe it and I still cant, this is by far one of the best days of my life!
I have to admit the race went perfect for me I never had and problems with any of the other swimmers maybe a few too many taps on the feet but nothing I couldn't handle!
My team mate Cassie Paten finished 3 rd and got a BRONZE medal, the second race that Team GB has won 2 medals in at these games!! Go the girls!!
Olympic Games - Day 14 back to top
David Davies swam his 10k today, he swam a very similar race to me, leading from the beginning and he came second too and won himself a SILVER MEDAL!! What an amazing achievement from the whole of the open water team! I am very proud to have been a part of that.
Back to the village that evening and went to a dinner for the BOA and had a wonderful evening, after that we had an interview with Gabby Logan for the BBC at 2 am!
The next few days were pretty mental with a few nights to celebrate my success which was very fun!!
Olympic Games - Day 17 back to top
Today is the last day of the Olympics!! I have had such an amazing time and cant believe its nearly over, although I cant wait to get home and see the family.
We went to the closing ceremony tonight and it was really good the parade of the flags was great with Chris Hoy flying out flag. London 's 2012 take over was great with Leona Lewis and David Beckham. I also saw Jackie Chan in the crowd singing along.
Back at the village Team GB put on a party for all the athletes which was very nice and really fun, what wasn't very fun was getting up at 6 am after only getting to sleep at 3 am!!
A short trip to the airport and a very comfy flight back to the UK in business class J
I have had the most amazing experience at the Olympic games, Beijing did a really good job on every part of the experience from the village to the facilities what a fantastic 2 weeks. Very glad to be home now
I would like to say a BIG thank you to Stockport Metro for coming to Manchester Airport to meet me it really was very nice to see everyone.
back to top
The biggest thank you of all is to my parents and family Jim, Pat, Mark and Janine who have had to make so many sacrifices for me to reach my goal, I could not have done any of this without them so THANKS VERY MUCH MUM AND DAD!! I would also like to say GONGRATULATIONS TO my sister Janine who graduated this year from Salford University for nursing! We are all so very proud of you!!
Above: Genipher, Becky, Keri-anne, Janine and Mark
I would also like to thank David Carry for being such a supportive and loving boyfriend, who has helped me so much over the last 3 years!!
Above: David, Angus (David's brother) and Keri-anne on a trip to France
Sean Kelly is another person that needs a medal for himself!! For being the BEST coach in the world, with out his expertise and wisdom I would not have done as well as I did. He really is such a great coach and I am looking forward to training with him again for the next 4 years up until 2012!
