Oct 14, 2010
My Commonwealth Games Experience in Delhi, 2010

So after a really good holding camp in Doha with the British team we arrived in Delhi as team England.

The village at first glimpse looks amazing! Its night time and its all lit up.
We take our first trip to the dining hall before making our way to the apartment. Everyone is pretty tired and looking forward to getting to bed. The vibe in the dining room reminds me of my last commonwealth games and Olympics, there is a real buzz from all the athletes from different sports and countries.

The apartments are massive. 4 bedrooms with en-suites, kitchen, dining and a living area. I’m in an apartment with Jess Sylvester, Sasha Mathews, Achieng Ajula-Bushell, Rebecca Turner, Stephanie Millward, Stacey Tadd and not forgetting my good friend and room mate Stephanie Proud!
The rooms are slighty dusty and things look like they have been finished really quickly but overall good apartments!

I didn’t have the best first nights sleep, the bed was rock hard! After being in luxury the last ten days I think my body needs to adjust! Had the morning off so checked out the village in daylight and got my bearings before our welcome meeting with team England, where they told us a few things which are important to remember whilst here, do not drink the water, make sure we have our deet on at all times, do not enter the basements and most importantly do not touch the monkeys, they are not pets!!! That made me laugh!

First trip to the competition pool this afternoon. It was quite a long journey and takes about 40-50mins depending on traffic. We did have our own police escort though which is pretty cool. There is so much security its unbelievable, I like it though, makes me feel safe. The pool is massive, lots of spectator seating, it feels huge! The pool water is very cold though, I got a huge shock when I dived in, hopefully they will get that sorted before race day.

It is the Opening Ceremony tonight, none of the swimmers will be attending as the racing starts tomorrow. I have my first race, the 50 Breaststroke, I am really looking forward to it. It’ll also be nice to get the first swim out the way and blow away the cobwebs! I have shaved down and packed my bags ready for a 5.30am get up. It’s an early start with heats starting at 8.30am. Early night for me after watching some opening ceremony on the tv!

Day 1 of competition. I raced the 50m Breaststroke heats and semi- final. I had a really good day, with some really fast swimming, I was just off my best time, so very pleased and I am going into tomorrows final in second position. Hopefully I can come away with a medal. Atmosphere wasn’t great at the pool today, hoping that will improve tomorrow. Got a bit of a dodgy belly but hopefully its just a slight bit of Delhi belly!

The 50m Breaststroke Final - Wow bronze medal!!! I’m so happy! I wasn’t expecting to come here and get an individual medal. It felt amazing looking up at the scoreboard to see I had claimed a medal! I loved my medal ceremony, I felt so proud standing there watching the England flag being raised and all my team mates watching on and supporting me. An amazing feeling, I could get use to this!! I have a day off tomorrow, and then the 100m starts on Thursday. Really excited about that now!

I enjoyed my day off, had a really good massage and a dip in the ice bath to help me recover and get ready for tomorrow. I had a little swim in the afternoon too and then it was nice to go and watch the finals in the with the rest of the Tean England. We are doing really well as a team so far.

Had the 100m Br Heats and semi-finals today. Had 2 really great swims. It’s the fastest I have swam for a while on the 100m so really pleased. Going into tomorrows final in 4th fastest. It’ll be a tough race and it’ll be close for medals. I’m really enjoying my swimming at the moment, I love racing. Tomorrow I will just give it my all like I did in the 50m and see what happens. I’m excited!

100m Breaststroke Final - Another bronze medal!!!! Really was not expecting to get one! I thought it would be an aussie 1,2,3! Its amazing. After last year having surgery and missing so much training this is just unbelieveable. I have to thank so many people for getting me back to where I need to be. I have had so much support and I wouldn’t have been able to achieve this without that. Sharron Davies was saying that I seem more like a happier swimmer and I agree. Having surgery last year and not been able to walk and then spend months doing rehab It’s made me appreciate what I do and I love doing it even more now. Right one more swim to go, tomorrow night the 4x100m medley relay. Love swimming the relay, it’s a great event. I get to swim with some of my best friends, I love it!

4x100m Medley Relay Final - My 3rd medal of the meet, this time a silver! We did awesome! Cant believe I am going home with 3 Commonwealth Games medals! Tonight was tough though, I found that race really hard work and felt really ill afterwards. I loved sharing the medal ceremony with the girls, we’ve all had a great meet and this just put the cherry on the top!!!

I am now back home in not so sunny England! Looking back at the last few weeks its been great for me. I am now looking forward to a break before it all starts again. I will be starting again out in Australia, I am leaving the shores of Britain to train with Leisel Jones, coached under Rohan Taylor. I’m really excited about this move and I think it’ll be great for me heading into 2012!

I will keep you updated on how its all going.

Kate