Road to Rio: Aussie swimmer Thomas Fraser-Holmes’ endless search for the winning edge

SWIMMER Thomas Fraser-Holmes is pulling out all the stops ahead of Rio as he looks for that 1 per cent difference between Olympic gold and nothing.

Thomas Fraser-Holmes will compete in three events at the Rio Games. Picture: Mark evans

HANGING from the ceiling of a kayak storage shed doing pulls ups, Australian swimmer Thomas Fraser-Holmes is looking for that 1 per cent difference between Olympic gold and nothing.

It might be in his diet or his nine pool sessions a week, three gym workouts, three pilates sessions, massage, his weekly chiro, physio and sports psych visits, or in his ability to fall asleep anywhere anytime.

Whatever it is, Fraser-Holmes is looking for it and will keep searching until he has the Olympic medal around his neck.

If you want to know the discipline, strength and commitment required to be an Olympic swimmer who is a genuine medal contender, spend five minutes in the world of Gold Coast middle-distance athlete Fraser-Holmes.

A 24-year-old Novocastrian estimates he has swum 700,000 laps of a pool in the past 10 years. That’s 35,000km of swimming at an average of 70km a week.

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Fraser-Holmes will compete in three events at the Rio Games. Picture: Glenn Hampson

So strict and regimented is Fraser-Holmes’ desire to be the best that he freely admits “I don’t really have a social life.”

Fuelled by the desire to win gold in Rio, Fraser-Holmes has taken just four weeks off training since the last Olympic Games in London four years ago.

“For me that’s not a sacrifice, I really love doing that. I love my body is in peak condition and it’s not being tampered with by alcohol, a hangover or anything like that,” he said.

“I know my body so well and it’s so finetuned that most people will never feel that feeling in their whole life.

“(I like to) stand up and smile at the pain, why is pain a bad thing? Why can’t it be fun? Since I’ve started thinking like that it’s good getting out of the pool and not being able to lift your arms. That’s the sort of stuff you can’t buy.”

When hundredths of a second can define your career like it does for Fraser-Holmes, you begin to understand why he has to be so committed.

There are times he’d love to “smash a massive pizza”, but he knows the importance of his diet, which rarely ventures away from a four-egg omelet for breakfast, steak and brown rice at lunch and either chicken or carbs at dinner.

The “massive pizza” will have to wait for Fraser-Holmes. Picture: Mark evans

“I believe your food swims your next session,” he said.

“The last six months I’ve had to step up my game in that department.”

He will race three events in Rio. The 400m medley, 200m freestyle and 4x200m freestyle relay.

It’s the 200m freestyle, which he dead-heated with Cameron McEvoy at the selection trials, where he stands the best chance at a medal.

His time to win the Commonwealth Games title in 2014 was the fastest since the last Olympics until just recently when Chinese star Sun Yang clocked a better effort.

Still Fraser-Holmes could be Australia’s smoky of Rio, but he won’t be thinking like that. He won’t think at all, the hard work is done and racing is the easy bit.

“Swimming’s a willpower sport. I let my instincts take over, I couldn’t tell you what I think about when I swim. I just get in and try to get my hand on the wall first,” he said.

“The work is done, it’s just step away from your body and let it happen. Not make it happen, let it happen.”

Originally published as Road to Rio: Aussie swimmer Thomas Fraser-Holmes’ endless search for the winning edge