EXCLUSIVE!! Amanda’s Diary – 3 Days ‘Til Swimming Starts

By Amanda Beard

BARCELONA, July 17. OK, it is now three days out of the competition and we're coming up to Crunch Time.

We have to make sure we are eating right, sleeping enough, and drinking a lot of water. It is usually a really boring life leading up to a big meet because you don't and can't do much. We try to catch a lot of naps and sit watching TV a lot, or a lot of us bring our DVD players so we are trading videos to watch.

Although you have to rest, you still get the excitment of the meet running through you. I don't swim 'til Monday, so it's nice to have one day of the meet go by before I swim to see how things are run.

I am getting really excited to swim. My 100 breastroke is the first event, so it is usually my warm-up event for my 200 breastroke.

This meet is definitely going to be a preview of what you will see next year at the 2004 Olympics, and I know a lot of the swimmers are looking at their competitors to see what they are going to do. It is going to be an exciting meet to watch and be a part of.

–Amanda

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