Local British Olympians Take the Press Conference Dais in London

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LONDON, England, July 25. LOCAL Olympians had the chance to chat with the media at the Main Press Center in London as the Great Britain contingent took the dais.

Michael SCOTT (AUS) – team leader

On Great Britain's progress so far:
“We've strived to continue momentum. The upward curve has continued through Rome (2009 world championships), Delhi (2010 Commonwealth Games) and Shanghai (2011 world championships). We are a united group of swimmers and staff and we've had a very productive training camp.”

“We've learnt from Shanghai, where we missed on four medals by a short margin.”

On swimmer Hannah MILEY (GBR) not being present at the press conference:
“That's for training and recovery purposes. Everyone is healthy, there is no illness or injury.”

Keri-Anne PAYNE (GBR)

On whether she feels she is 'under the radar':
“I'm obviously immensely proud of what I've achieved so far. The Olympics is about concentrating on doing the best that I can, I'm not going to run around screaming.”

“There's any number of girls in the open water race that have the opportunity to win a medal.”

On whether she has swum in the Serpentine lake at Hyde Park yet and what the experience was like:
“Yes I've just come from there. I'm the first athlete to swim in the Serpentine, which I think is really cool.”

“I had to fight with a couple of ducks, though, to get around a couple of the buoys, but apart from that it was really good.”

“The only thing that was quite amusing was swimming through all the reeds this morning and I got a bit tangled in them but I've overcome that now.”

“I'm glad I did it today. I got the first taste of it. It's not the most glamorous of sports but we all know that.”

On the water temperature in the Serpentine lake at Hyde Park:
“I'm trying to get used to swimming in colder water. In Shanghai (2011 world championships) the water was 30 degrees and in the Serpentine on Friday it was 18 degrees. So I'm trying to get used to that and prepare myself for that.”

On whether marathon swimming is violent:
“It has its elements of being competitive. You can imagine that there are 25 girls and guys all standing on the pontoon and you're all trying to get to the same place so there's always going to be a little bit of friction. Nine times out of 10 it is an accident if someone hits you when they swim past and we have the same system as a football system, two yellow cards and a red card.”

James GODDARD (GBR)

On racing against Michael PHELPS (USA) and Ryan LOCHTE (USA) in the individual medley:
“I'm really honored to be in a race like that. I get to race the best athletes of all time.”

“Those two are the greatest swimmers of all time so I think everyone is eager and anticipating to watch that race. I'm hoping that they get caught up with each other and hopefully I can put in a good performance. It would be really tough to beat those guys.”

On the small things he has been trying to improve during training:
“The past few months I have trained harder than I ever have before. Knowing that the Olympics are just around the corner has really helped me.”

“A lot of my focus has been on the front crawl. I've been moaning about it, 'it hurts too much'. I've got the world champion and the world silver medallist in freestyle so a big part of the race will really come in the free.”

Robbie RENWICK (GBR)

On the temperature of the water at the Aquatics Centre:
“We haven't been in the Aquatics Centre since our trials in March and, personally, then the pool temperature was perfect for me but for the last few days we've training at Eton (Manor). Maybe we'll be at the pool again tomorrow so we'll see how it goes.”

On swimming in front of a home crowd and whether he feels pressure from the home crowd:
“The way I focus on it is seeing it as support, so I don't really see it as pressure or expectation. If you can just turn it around and see it as the whole nation supporting you, that's the best way to do it.”

On the small things he has been trying to improve during training:
“For me it has been about consistency and just to keep the focus on technique and drills.”

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