Swimmer Cameron McEvoy off to Tokyo to continue Olympic preparation

CAMERON McEvoy read the hidden message stitched inside the leg of his new Olympic racing uniform, “I am ready”. Immediately he thought: “no I’m not’’.

Cameron McEvoy speaks at the launch of the Olympic swimming, diving and water polo uniforms for Rio.

CAMERON McEvoy read the hidden message stitched inside the leg of his new Olympic racing uniform, “I am ready”. Immediately he thought, “no I’m not’’.

“But I’m on track and I will be.”

McEvoy was on hand on Friday to help some of Australia’s finest swimmers, divers and water polo players unveil the new Olympic training and race swimwear for the Rio Olympic Games.

For the first time a message has been written on the inside to inspire the athletes as they get ready to race but McEvoy knows he has much to do before he is indeed “ready’’.

On Saturday he will fly to Tokyo for a week of training and racing. He has one more week of the high volume distance phase of his program and will race off the back of it at the Japan Open starting Friday.

McEvoy said he was looking forward to racing the 400m and 100m freestyle on the same day in Japan as it would help prepare him for day two and day four of the Olympics where he has 200m and 100m semi-finals which clash with relays.

Learning to back up is all part of the journey on his quest for a historic six Olympic medals in Rio.

“Japan is just about racing. I’m not looking for any times,” he said.

“Leading into most big competitions I do 400m races just for the aerobic racing.

“The primary focus is just to get over there, have fun racing and develop the race strategies I want to work on for Rio.

100 Days. That sounds too short. I prefer to think Earth still has 258,000,000 km's to travel around the sun before the Olympics begin!

— Cameron McEvoy (@CameronMcEvoy) 27 April 2016

“I’ve got such a huge amount of work to do until Rio so I can’t get caught up in what I’ve done.

“There’s a big difference between doing it once and backing up and doing it on a stage such as the Olympics.”

Olympic team chef de mission Kitty Chiller joined the athletes on the Gold Coast on Friday and was pleased with the latest medal forecast which had Australia winning 18 gold medals, including eight in the pool.

After winning only one gold medal at the 2012 London Olympic Games, Chiller hopes this swimming team can set the scene in Rio for a triumphant medal table surge by Australia.

“Our goal reamins the same, it’s top five (on the medal table) and it’s an aspirational goal and it’s not something that’s going to be easy,” Chiller said.

“We always want and need the swim team to get us off to a good start in week one.”

Originally published as Swimmer Cameron McEvoy off to Tokyo to continue Olympic preparation