Emily Seebohm Chases Her Own Slice Of Olympic History

By Ian Hanson, Swimming World's Australian Correspondent

BRISBANE, Australia, December 12. AUSTRALIA has never won Olympic gold in women's backstroke – but if 19-year-old Beijing Olympian Emily Seebohm can spend the next eight months either immersed in water or wrapped in cotton wool then she just might just claim her own slice of swimming history.

Seebohm showed last night that a nightmare 12 months is well and truly behind her with two stunning swims on the second night of open competition at the Queensland Swimming Championships at the Brisbane Aquatic Centre, Chandler.

The Matt Brown coached Seebohm, from Brisbane's Brothers Swim Club, produced a sizzling season opening time of 59.37 to claim the 100m backstroke and then added the 200IM in a handy 2:13.37, suggesting she may even add that event to her Olympic Trials program come March in Adelaide.

The raw-boned 19-year-old daughter of a former Australian Football legend, has spent 2011 between the pool and hospital beds as she battled swine flu, a swollen pancreas, glandular fever and tonsillitis.

She collapsed poolside at the Australian Championships in Sydney earlier this year and then spent three days in hospital in California in between regular visits to hospital in her home town of Brisbane.

Despite her illnesses, Seehohm did manage to qualify for two events at this year's FINA World Championships in Shanghai, finishing fourth in the 100m backstroke and fifth in the 50m backstroke.

Seebohm reflected on her time in hospital in California, which sums up her nature that just might see her on the podium in London.

"It turned out my pancreas was swollen so I spent two days in hospital on a drip without any food," she said. "I'm not a big fan of not doing anything for a few days. I've got so much energy that swimming helps me get to sleep at night so being in hospital wasn't the greatest couple of days."

But I reckon her opponents might be having a few restless nights when they see that Emily Seebohm really means business in the countdown to London next year.

And you get the feeling she is a little tired of "knocking on the door" when it comes to the major global events – finishing fourth in the 100m backstroke at the 2007 FINA World Championships; missing the final by one place, finishing 9th at the 2008 Beijing Olympics; third at the 2009 FINA World Championships in Rome and fourth at this year's FINA World Championships.

She showed in 2010 what she is capable of, winning an extraordinary eight medals at the Delhi Commonwealth Games – three gold, two silver and three bronze – the biggest haul since Susie O'Neill came home from Kuala Lumpur with eight medals, including a record six gold, in 1998.

It is good to see that although it may only be December that "Em" Seebohm means business and that there are no excuses about being in heavy training and there's still four months to Trials.

She is just going for it.

Seebohm has sent a clear message to her opponents in Australia and her opponents around the world that thirds, fourths and ninths are very much a thing of the past.

London 2012 will represent the 21st time the 100m backstroke event has been swum at an Olympic Games since Paris in 1924.

Of the 63 medals presented, Australia has only received two – Bonnie Mealing in Los Angeles in 1932 (silver) and Judy Joy Davies (bronze) in 1948 – ironically the last time the Games were held in London.

If Seebohm stays in the water and out of the wards, then maybe that elusive gold medal awaits her when the youth of the world gather in London for the Games of the XXXth Olympiad next July.

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