The Tribune

Swimming coach Brett Hawke and Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace are in training before a trip to central London, as he describes in his eighth column for The Tribune:

WE started at the crack of dawn this morning in anticipation of a long day. Arianna and I met at 6.30am for our last weights workout of the preparation. We usually do our last lift one week out of race day, this way her body can be fully rested without losing her maximum strength. I have never seen Arianna in better shape. You know you are doing pretty good when other Olympic athletes stop and stare at you as you walk past them, and Arianna has definitely turned a few heads!

Next stop was the Olympic training venue. Photos or words don’t really do this place justice, you have to see it to believe it:

Three Olympic-sized pools under one roof all side by side, along with two other short course pools next to them.

Just an amazing sight to see. And this morning Arianna and I had the whole place to ourselves. I guess everybody else was sleeping in... Anyway she looked as fast as I’ve ever seen her swim. This is starting to sound like she is ready!

In the afternoon we had a function at Bahamas House in downtown London, for one of the Bahamas Olympic Committee’s major sponsors. It was a really nice event, even if we did have to cancel afternoon practice for it.