Parkin takes steps towards Olympic gold

Terence Parkin is gearing up towards winning a gold medal at next year's Olympic Games in Athens and takes a big step forward on that path in the next two weeks when he competes at the world swimming championships in Barcelona.

The Olympic silver medallist in the 200m breaststroke at Sydney in 2000, Parkin has been building towards going one better at the traditional "home of the Games", ancient and modern in recent months.

Coach Graham Hill was delighted with Parkin's form at the recent Mare Nostrum series in southern Europe, where his charge won a gold and three silver medals in his four outings.

Considering the timing of the events, his silver medal efforts in the 200m breaststroke were outstanding - he had less than 10 minutes' recovery time from swimming the demanding 400m individual medley before going back and racing in his favourite stroke, and was beaten only by the superlative efforts of the world record-holder.

But the focus switches now to Athens 2004, well beyond the July 12-27 champs in Barcelona.

"Terence will be happy to reach the finals at Barcelona," said Hill. "I expect our medals at the world champs to come from Ryk Neethling and Roland Schoeman."

"At Sydney, we seemed to have closed the gap on the rest of the world, but all of a sudden it looks like the big guns have moved up a gear again.

"What the Mare Nostrum series did show up is that a lot of the top countries are now sending their top swimmers on training camps for as much as four or five months of the year.

"For example, the Russians spent time at a high-altitude camp, came and cleaned up at Mare Nostrum, and then went straight back into another camp to prepare for the world champs.

"If we don't follow suit, we are going to find ourselves falling behind again," said Hill.

Of the rest of the South Africans who will be going to Barcelona, Hill expects to see veteran Mandy Loots qualify for a final, while Melissa Corfe, in her first major overseas competition, will do well to reach a semi-final. But watch out for Parkin.

"For the first time in over a year, he's focused on the Olympics and is now coping with his new lifestyle as a family man, with a wife and baby to look after. He's very focused," said Hill.