Qualification quells nerves - for now

By Nyree Lewis and Sascha Kindred
British Paralympic swimmers

The pressure is off now we have officially qualified for the Paralympics - now we can get on with what we are training for which is to go and win medals.

We both swam really well at the National Championships which was our first chance to set the qualifying time.

I (Sascha) broke the world 100m breaststroke world record in the heats which was a bit of a shock.

And then in the final I went and smashed it again, knocking another full second off my time to set a new record of one minute, 23.312 seconds.

In the very next race in the pool, I (Nyree) recorded a new world mark of 1:50.94 in the 100m breaststroke final.

If you don't hit a certain standard then you don't get selected and that's fair

I was really chuffed because it was the best time I have done in two years.

We do feed off each other's success. If one of us swims well then the other thinks 'well I have to go and swim well now.'

We do the same sort of training so there is no reason for us not to perform.

The second chance to qualify for the Athens Games was at the Disability Sport England Paralympic trails in Sheffield a few weeks later.

They are our official trials so even though we had hit the qualifying times all swimmers hoping to go to Athens have to attend just to prove their fitness.

Again we both swam solidly but we still had to wait until the swimming squad was announced on the British Paralympic Association website to know we had definitely made it.

To be honest, we were more nervous about finding out which of our friends had been selected.

One of our best friends did not qualify and we were very disappointed for him because we had always been used to going to major championships together.

The qualifying times are stiff this year but in every sport if you don't hit a certain standard you don't get selected and that's fair.

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After the trials we went away with half of the swimming squad for a training camp in Cyprus.

It was a great opportunity to get together and do some solid training in a similar environment to Athens.

At the beginning of each year every athlete fills in an availability form to say whether you are free to attend training camps and competitions.

Everyone has the opportunity to go or to stay and train in a home environment. You just have to give your reasons.

So we said we wanted to go to Cyprus to get used to the climate, the different time zones and food - luckily we were chosen.

We also found time to celebrate the fact that we had qualified by flying out to New York for a quick holiday.

It was a rest week so we went out there to do some sight-seeing and shopping.

It was funny because on the subway we met a lady who saw our Great Britain rucksacks and told us she was going out to work in the Olympic village.

It made us realise the competition is not that far away now but with a few extra months of work we should be spot on for the Games.