Michael Jamieson, stood in front of a crowd spectators and the media yesterday receiving commemorative plaque at the opening of the refurbished University of Bath pool.
“I am privileged to have performed the official opening,” Jamieson told the media.
“The pool here in Bath has been home for five-and-a-half years now and every medal I have won on the international stage has been down to the facilities and the staff here.”
“I owe them a huge debt of gratitude. I also have to thank Sport England for allowing us to have the London 2012 Legacy Pool here at the University and, of course, British Swimming.”
Jamieson won a silver medal in the 200 breaststroke at the 2012 London Olympics.
The majority of the £1.6million that was used in the upgrades was provided by the 2012 Legacy funding.
The pool will now be known as the 2012 Legacy Pool at the University of Bath.
Sport UK also invested in the facility providing £30,000 towards technology and analysis. One of the items that has been purchased is a high end camera system, “The cameras pick up things that, as a coach, we just don’t see – we watch training from above and a little from the side but this allows us to see it from every angle,” explained David McNulty, the Head Coach of the British Swimming National Training Centre Bath.
“There are 24 cameras and two big plasma TVs, so we can really look at the fine details of the technique with the swimmers on a big screen.”
“We are looking for Olympic medals here, so we need every little bit of one per cent improvement we can get.”
Jamieson is working with McNulty to find what will help him improve enough to win Olympic gold in Rio. In fact at the moment the two are working hard to get Jamieson back to the level where he will qualify for Rio.
At the most recent British Championships Jamieson finished sixth.
To win the 2012 Olympic silver he posted a lifetime best of 2:07.43, a time that should compete for a place on the podium in Kazan. That is considering that Ross Murdoch recorded the world’s top time of 2:07.30 in 2014 while the number one ranked time of 2015 so far is a 2:07.77 put up by Yasuhiro Koseki.
The last few years of his athletic life have not gone the way he thought that would after the London Olympics,”It takes you to lose a few things in order to really take stock and gain perspective on how far I’ve come, what I’ve achieved in the sport and realise that I’m still capable of winning another Olympic medal next year,” Jamieson told the BBC.
“So much has happened since London 2012. If I finish on the top of the podium next year, I’d love to write a book about everything that’s happened in the last couple of years because it’s been a hell of a journey.”
He still believes that being fully committing to McNulty’s program will vault him to the top of the medal podium in Rio, “I’m here for a reason. I’ve chosen Bath for my base and this training programme for a reason and that’s to try to win Olympic gold,” said Jamieson.
“It’s going to be a hell of a job, but that belief and that self-confidence is coming back gradually.”
“I’m competing at the US nationals in the summer – away from the World Championships, it’s not where I want to be.”
“But if I can post a time there that would’ve made the podium at the World Championships then this season will be done and dusted and I’ll be in a great place going into Olympic year.”
He’s not American. He should not swim at US Nationals.
That’s nonsense to me.
And I think the same for the French Nationals and foreign swimmers.
This perspective is very strange to me. The presence of the some of the best in the world should only serve to motivate and inspire the domestic swimmers.
It’s not a qualifying meet. So while you have a point, I don’t think the swimmers are too pressed about it. Qualifying meets though, that’s all American.
Storyline of the meet: Michael Jamieson breaks 2:07 at US Nats, winning by 4 seconds 😉
I think that we would both love to see that………but at this point he would be happy with a 2:08.99!