Neves battles illness but is happy with British Champs effort

Champions of TomorrowRising Stars

By Sam Wakefield,

KRISTINA Neves admitted her taste of the London 2012 Olympic big time was a frustrating one with an illness hangover causing the teenager to be shy of her best.

Neves got a behind-the-scenes look at the London Games at the British Swimming Championships, which doubled up as the test event for this summer’s Games.

However the 15-year-old was, by her own admission, short of her best.

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Despite still battling a cold Neves refused to shy away from the limelight, racing in six events throughout the eight-day event.

But, while the week was a busy one, Neves insisted it was one fraught with frustration due to her feeling a long way off her best.

“It was a good week and it was amazing to be in the Olympic Aquatics Centre and to experience that,” said Neves.

“It was great to be in the pool and experiencing that but it was frustrating to not be feeling at my best.

“I was starting to get a bit tired during the week because I was swimming in a lot of events and I wasn’t feeling at my best.

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“I was still trying to get over an illness that I’d had in the run up to the week so I wasn’t feeling at my best and it did have a bit of an effect on me.

“The fact that I didn’t race as I would have liked might be down to the amount I raced and also I hadn’t been training enough because I had been ill, so it is probably something to do with that, it was such a tough build-up.”

Neves saved her best until last in London, finishing 15th in the 800m freestyle which was won by two-time Olympic gold medallist Rebecca Adlington.

Three top-30 finishes in the 200m butterfly, 400m freestyle and 400m medley rounded out a solid week alongside the cream of British swimming.

And Neves admitted, despite her fitness issues it had still been a week to remember.

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“It was very intimidating obviously in there because it was the Olympic pool,” she added. “But it was such a privilege to be in there and it was really exciting.”

To celebrate 15 years of support for British Swimming, Kellogg’s is offering a ‘Free Kids Swim’ on 30 million packs of cereal to encourage families to take the plunge together. Collect a voucher on pack and take it down to your local participating pool. For more information, please visit www.kelloggs.co.uk/swimming