I’m glad to be home after what was a really good, but long, week at the Olympic Trials where I swam well in the 200m, 400m and 1500m freestyle events and claimed my place on the Olympic team.

People tend to think it’s a given that the top swimmers will qualify but it’s a one shot deal and if you miss out there are no second chances so to make the team again makes me feel extremely relieved.

I’m really excited to have qualified in the 1500m and to be having a crack at three in a row which is something no one has ever done in the event. I’m making sure I do everything correctly in the build up to that event to give myself a chance at creating history in Beijing.

I do love the 1500m and I love it because of the challenge it presents. I suppose it’s the pool equivalent of the 5000m run where you see the guy red faced and hurting trying to make it to the finish line. I have always loved the battle to make it to the finish.

In the 400m I was very happy with time I swam as it lets me know I can be very competitive at the Olympics, especially if I keep improving in the lead up to it.

As for the 200m  it was a real surprise to win it as I only wanted to be a part of the relay in Beijing and that’s what I will do. I always said I would rather finish fourth in a fast time than win in a slow one. To win in a fast one with the top nine guys going under the Olympic Qualifying time was a huge result for me and gave me plenty of confidence going into the other events.

I was really excited by the performances in general and the times. The only negative to the fast times that were swum was that we are now motivating the rest of the world to swim faster, especially the USA who, despite the times we swam, are still the real powerhouse in world swimming.

There has still been plenty of talk about the Speedo suits and while they are an unbelievable product the media has looked for a story and found it to a degree.  People are always surprised when they pick up the suits because they expect them to be heavy like a wetsuit but they are really light and thin.

I thought the best performances at the trials belonged to Eamon Sullivan, Libby Trickett and Steph Rice. There were a lot of others but those three stood out for me and Steph erasing the potentially tainted world record of YanYan Wu was a great moment in swimming. It’s always good to see records that were made by people who have taken performance enhancing drugs at some stage of their career disappear. Especially when they are beaten by someone who is totally against drugs in sport.

The Nick D’Arcy incident has been hard to deal with and thankfully I haven’t had much to do with it. We can speculate on what is going to happen but as it is the subject of a police investigation I believe people should refrain from commenting and let the police and then the AOC handle the decision-making and let the rest of the team focus on moving forward.

I am off to Europe next week in my attempt to qualify for the 10 kilometre Open Water event and that is my next big focus. I will leave with plenty of confidence in my ability to finish in the top 10 and qualify for the Beijing Games.

Grant