McClatchey hints at London 2012 swansong

By Tom Reynolds, Sportsbeat

WITH A penchant for politics it is unsurprising that the Caitlin McClatchey's post 2012 plans are full of counterpoints and contradictions.

LONDON 2012 SWANSONG?: GB swimmer Caitlin McClatchey has dropped a hint that London 2012 could be the last chapter in her illustrious career

But the Scottish ace is unequivocal in stating that the Games will prove to be her swimming swansong, if she completes her international medal set in London.

Having been part of the GB team at the Athens Games in 2004, aged just 18, next year's showpiece event in the capital will, if selected, be McClatchey's third Olympics.

However the swimming sensation that had the Greece-hosted Olympics, two Commonwealth Games golds and a World Championship bronze on her CV while still in her teens has shown signs of fatigue in recent years.

Failure to defend either, or indeed appear on the podium, of her Commonwealth titles in Delhi last year was followed by a dismal 2011 which saw her scrape into the World Championship squad only as part of the relay.

With fresh freestyle faces like Jazmin Carlin having caught and left her in her wake McClatchey now seemingly faces an uphill battle even to secure a London 2012 berth.

However with the disruption of last season's coach switch having settled down McClatchey is adamant she can be firing on all cylinders next summer - in what she hints could be her swimming swansong.

"I don't really know what I am going to do after London 2012," said McClatchey - who completed a politics degree at Loughborough University last summer and has spoken of a desire to enter the shark-infested waters of public office post swimming. 

"Obviously swimming for Scotland at the Commonwealth Games would be quite exciting.  But I would like to do a masters as well and I am not sure how I would fit in both.

"It really depends what happens in London in terms of whether I keep swimming.  I would like to be involved in the Commonwealth Games whether it be in terms of swimming or in some other way.

"It is difficult because if I didn't swim too well at the Olympics then I might want to carry on because I don't want to end my career on a down point.

"But also an Olympic medal is the only one that I haven't got so that would be the pinnacle and a good time to maybe stop.

"I'd have to see what happened and I don't think about it too much as I am concentrating on getting to London 2012."

McClatchey was a shadow of herself at March's British Championships in Manchester where she failed to qualify at the first attempt for July's World Championships in Shanghai.

The 25-year-old needed the second-chance saloon of the ASA Nationals to eventually book her Far East spot - a situation she plans on avoiding in 2012.

"Last year was hard because at the World Championship trials I had only been working with a new coach Ian Armiger for a couple of months but we have been working together for a lot longer now and I am feeling good about the winter," added McClatchey.

"Qualifying at the first trials takes a lot of pressure off.  The trials last year were a good wake-up for me and I came away from that knowing and wanting to put even more work in.

"I said to Ian that I would do anything I could to improve and since then I have done gym work and things and everything is going really well.

"Hopefully I can swim well at the trials in March and secure a spot for London 2012 - it's so exciting that the prospect of a home Olympics is so close."

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(c) Sportsbeat 2012