Jack Marriott is studying Engineering Science at Hertford College. In March 2011 Jack won the 50m butterfly title at the British Championships with 24.33secs, the sixth-fastest time ever by a Briton.
I am hoping to compete in Olympic swimming for Great Britain. In order to be a contender I need to achieve first or second place at the March 2012 London Olympic Trials.
I grew up in the tropics and spent a lot of time in the water at a young age, but I didn't start competing until I was at school in England, and then started training properly at university.
There are two extremely quick 100m butterfly stroke swimmers on the GB squad at the moment so it is going to be very difficult to catch up with them. I know that my free swimming speed is the fastest from the 50m race I won at the British Championships in March. But my endurance needs a lot of improvement.
My training regime takes up around 30 hours per week spread over ten sessions, including weights, pilates, land work, ballet, and obviously pool work. We also do some cross-training and other things like rock climbing and kick-boxing. When we went to Majorca in April we did lots of outdoor stuff like cycling and jogging, and even just messing around on the beach playing frisbee or rounders. I am also eating at least triple what I would normally eat, so food bills have gone up!
I have taken a year out from study in order to swim full time so I am focussing completely on the training. I'm really enjoying myself training at Loughborough. It’s a tough but extremely rewarding lifestyle, but I do really miss Oxford and it's tricky keeping in touch with my friends back there. The biggest sacrifice I've had to make is that I will miss graduating with the rest of my year group next summer.
This has been something that I have always dreamed of, but until only a few months ago seemed just a fantasy. I have been extremely fortunate to have been given a once in a lifetime opportunity to train with the best. Ideally I would have liked more than ten months to prepare but that's all I've got so I'm just doing my best.
My Olympic hero is Dame Kelly Holmes, not just because of her success at the Olympics but for what she has done since: inspiring others and encouraging the next generation to get involved with athletics.
