It’s now officially an Olympic year and I can just see the time from now until March flying like you wouldn’t believe, but I will give you a quick recap of what I have been up to first.

Christmas was great and I got to spend it with Candice and her family. I got plenty of nice presents including a wallet and clothes and was generally spoilt. No rest for the wicked though as I had to do a short training session on Christmas Day and was back into the hard stuff on Boxing Day.

New Years came and went and I had a great view of the fireworks from my apartment, which was sweet. It’s actually the first year I didn’t head back to the Gold Coast which turned out to be a blessing because I heard the weather was awful.

My brother and his family also graced us with their presence for a week and I really enjoyed catching up with them.

The Victorian State titles were held between the 4th and 8th of January. I competed in the 100, 200, 400 and 800 metre freestyle and the 4×100 and 4×200 metre freestyle relays. Overall it was a good meet for me. I pulled out some very good times and was named swimmer of the meet.

I did manage to head up to the Gold Coast for an Uncle Toby’s appearance where I had some fun on ’The Tornado‘ at Wet ‘n’Wild as well as have lunch with some competition winners at Sea World. Libby Lenton and Leisel Jones were there as well. They went swimming with the dolphins, while I hopped on a plane – lucky them. Swimming with dolphins is amazing and they are truly majestic creatures.

Candice and I attended the Australian Open men’s singles final and saw what was an entertaining match between Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Novak Djokovic. I felt a little bit sorry for Djokovic as the crowd was constantly on his back and that cannot have been easy.

I think it may have had a little bit to do with his on court demeanour and the way his interviews may have been perceived by some fans. It’s very easy to be misconstrued in your second language.

Having said that I really enjoyed seeing the final between two players who undoubtedly have huge futures in the game.

I saw the images of the swimming centre in Beijing and if the outside is anything to go by the inside will be spectacular. Swimming venues are always unique for major meets and this is no exception.

Some of my favourites have been the Barcelona Olympic pool, the Sydney Olympic pool, the Olympic pool in Athens and the pool they had built in Rod Laver Arena.

At the moment I am preparing for the Olympic trials and feel like I am on track to do well. There haven’t been many meets across the world this year, but I think when Olympic trials are held across the world we will know plenty about who is in form. While there will always be world records falling, for me this year is about winning.

Gold medals last a lifetime. World records always tumble.

Take care - Grant