As of last Friday, the 26-strong roster of Great Britain’s Olympic swimming team landed in the Games host nation of Brazil. Spending their last training days about a 40-minute flight away in Belo Horizonte, stars such as Adam Peaty, Hannah Miley and Fran Halsall are training at Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG).
The plan is for the squad to engage in a 10-day training camp before arriving in the Athletes Village in Rio approximately 3 1/2 days prior to the start of the Games. A primary goal of the training camp, says GBR Head Coach Bill Furniss, is for athletes to grow acclimated to not only the climate of Brazil, but also the later competition times of swimming events, where finals will begin at 10pm local.
Says Furniss of the team’s outlook thus far, “Our travel into Brazil was excellent and has benefited the athletes already. We did a lot of work with Team GB to achieve a smooth transition and everyone arrived with a real sense of excitement as well as purpose.”
“By the time they arrive in Rio we know they will be race ready,” said Furniss. “We’ve designed the camp schedule around achieving this and it’s put our athletes into a very positive place as they adjust their sights to the starting blocks of their very first event.”
Headed into the Games, whose opening ceremony kicks off in just 8 days, Furniss states, “We’re trying to make the whole experience as normal as possible. We’ve been working on that over the past three years to ensure they approach every competition with the same mindset. We want to make sure that over the next few days they achieve that state of readiness to achieve their potential and deliver the right outcome.”
You can follow each of the 26 British Olympic Swim Team members on social media here.
57.7 for Peaty