Olympic profile: Cassandra Patten

Meet the 21-year-old swimmer who dreams of appearing on the small screen

Cassandra Patten's being tight-lipped about her chances at the Olympics.

The 21-year-old from Plymouth has a good record in the 800m freestyle and 10k open water.

But she told Newsbeat: "If I start saying I'm going to go for this and going for that, then I put pressure on myself when I don't really need that.

"So I'm just going to go out there and do my best."

Most of the time she trains indoors at Stockport Metro, despite the fact that the 10k will see her swimming for over two hours in a lake.

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She won silver earlier this year at the World Open Water Championships, but not the most ideal conditions.

Patten said: "In Melbourne I swam with jellyfish and dead dogs and sea snakes, you name it.

"There's going to be about 30 girls competing in Beijing and we're all really close together.

"You're hitting arms and hitting heads, it's quite rough."

Blue Peter

Cassandra will swim the 800m freestyle in the 'Water Cube' pool

Apart from her World Championship silver medal, the 21-year-old's most prized possession is a teddy bear called Rainbow who she's had since birth.

She'd love to meet Daniel Craig, and when the swimming career is over, she's got her eyes on a job in children's telly.

She added: "I want to be a Blue Peter presenter. It's my ultimate dream.

"I'm outgoing, I love being outside, I love doing different activities and I love children.

"It would be a dream come true.

"And if I don't make a Blue Peter presenter, then I think I'm going to be a teacher."