Many people, especially my coaches and my teammates use the power of motivation by mentioning a name to toughen me up. However, I don't actually think about my rivals or look at the times other people are doing in the world or really consider what they are doing, it is only when I am hitting rock bottom in the weight room or struggling at the end of an 8,000m session that a name can have some influence on me finding just a little more to finish and push through the pain.

Yes, I do think of my opponents, especially when somebody does a good time. Everyone should be taken in account. I expect a close dog fight. I do not write off anybody.

Myself. Every time I race, I race against my times. Although my biggest asset is my head and my racing abilities, I am my biggest opponent. And the person next to me in any race. And honestly, that is all. I don't really strive to beat any one person or race any one person, you could argue the case for Anastasia, Coughlin, Lizzie Simmonds, Steph Proud, the French girl at Euro Juniors and many more but as I said they are all just another swimmer in the lane next to me or in the pool at the same time.

Me, myself (my fears). Then Gemma Spofforth and Lizzie Simmonds and Kirsty (Coventry) of course.

"I have a picture of myself coming 2nd in the 200m backstroke at the 2010 NCAAs as my screen saver. And when the going gets really tough, the memory of my mother and all those people in the world who have suffered cancer or another disease, or have sunk to the bottom of the pits with depression and are starting to slowly crawl up the side of the steepest cliff back to normality: it is those memories and inspirations that keep me going in the toughest sets."

Sometimes, it is hard, but I know the only one who needs it ... is me. I need it most and with that thought I am getting up every day and I go for it. No mottoes on the walls - just me, it's all inside my mind.

Defiantly aerobic training for me, I struggle to keep going like everyone else does here at Florida and I get lapped in the long aerobic sets. I excel in the sets where it is short bursts of speed or some heavy weights or dryland, but when it comes to aerobic fitness I sink!

I do really hard sessions during the 3 weeks of quality race pace training nx50s and nx100s or 4 to 5 broken 200s with a big rest, utmost effort and stroke control. I always try to keep my stroke efficient. Hard - but this work I need to perform and tolerate. Then on other days, things like 8 to 10x100 [25 fast/75 recovery] feels like real fun to do.

Very rarely, but when I do I imagine especially the 200m backstroke just before I go to bed at night, only really when I get close to a meet. I imagine each 50 as they will come and imagine the pain to understand it and deal with it when it comes.

I just think about things I have to do in this very moment. Do it as well as I can. I control my stroke count and try to pace properly. If I can do that with required quality, great. If I cannot, then I'll I will do just that the next time, for sure."

"In the heaviest training (Christmas training), we have doubles everyday, 2-2.5 hours in the water, about 6-8k a session (roughly 75k a week for 3 weeks) and on top of that 3 hours a week of dryland, either boxing, running or abs, and then another 3 hours of weights. About 60% of what I do will be backstroke."

"I do sometimes 7,000m per session, 14,000m per day or a little more 10 times a week. So it will add up to 70,000+m per week. Land work depends on the period of preparation. Gym work, core body strength, pulling machines. I love most the pulling machines. I feel my body needs that kind of training. If I miss a few days of such training, my pull in the water suffers. I do not do other sports. The backstroke part of the swimming volume is about 60%. I do a bit of IM and butterfly. I do some freestyle in the early stages of the season."

My relationship with my coaches, an interesting question! Coach [Martyn] Wilby, a father figure, brother, friend and coach all rolled into one person. Preparing me as an athlete as well as a woman of the world, understanding the importance of training but also understanding when I need space from intensity. Coach [Gregg] Troy, a coach and a friend, keeps my feet on the ground and doesn't baby me. He understands when I need a kick up the backside and when to back off. Coach Leah [Martindale Stancil], psychologist, coach, listener and friend. All these coaches as well as Coach [Anthony] Nesty and [Pete] Knox all roll into one perfect balanced coach knowing when to push and when to back off, when to listen and when to ignore. This preparation keeps me grounded as well as giving me enough motivation to keep striving. I couldn't have found a better place to "tick", as my mother once put it.

My coach is Natalya Kozlova. We have very warm and trustful relationship. She has been like a second mother to me from a young aqe I live and train far from home. We understand each other well, but if sometimes we have minor quarrels, we find optimal solutions swiftly. My coach knows all about my life and we can talk about everything.

"My mother started me swimming when I was 3 years old, my height made me look like I was a 5-year-old so I was placed in a group with the 5-year-olds. Competitively, however, I was about 7. My mother pushed me through my childhood, she was very strict and very on top of me all the time. When I learned how to drive, this stuck with me and my motivation stuck. My father was not so pushy, however he supported me through everything and still supports me unconditionally. He is very proud of me and likes any time to talk about my accomplishments!"

My mother cannot swim and she decided to take me to the pool for health reasons and to teach me to swim. In 2005, I won the National School Championships and was selected to the National Junior Team. At one of the camps I met Natalya and she invited me to join her training programme in the city of Penza. My mother let me go there. It was not easy for me and her. But mum finally said 'It would be better to be sorry about things you did than things you could have done but didn't do'. I am very grateful to my mother for giving me such a chance ("A view from the top can be awesome and you could miss such a chance, one that might otherwise be yours for the taking ...")

"The more experience I get and the more friends I make the friendlier the ready room gets. I like it as a gossip place, a place to catch up with the people I see maybe once a year! I think people need to understand that everyone in the room is just as nervous, if not more nervous than you are and they are just humans not Hulks, animals or machines. They might not want to talk because they are nervous but you can enjoy the ready room!"

In the call room, I feel excitement growing, I see how my opponents are preparing for the race. So I try to sit apart and quietly focus of the oncoming race.

I only say 'HI' to my mom before I swim.

When I go out on the deck I look for my coach. I must see her, how she waves her hand. If I get sight of her, everything is OK, fine! I have no mascot. I rely on myself and the training I've done.

I don't usually visualize it because my strength is racing and you can never predict what someone else is going to do, but also I do look at a race and visualize it once in a while before I go to bed.

The ideal race for me is a rapid beginning and 'help me God to save the effort for the final dash'. Sometimes that happens, sometimes it may not. But that is how I see the ideal race in my mind.

Worlds 2009. The motivation that my strength coach gives me when I am lifting by just saying her name (Anastasia Zueva) makes me work harder, but in this case her name represents all other people I could race.

I met Gemma for the first time at the Olympic Games 2008 in the final. I was 5th she was 4th and she broke my European record! It was pity. She is a good, strong rival, but you cannot constantly think about rivals. See you there Gemma! Til next time!

My strengths are defiantly my mental capacity to understand what I need to do and how I am going to do it, however it is also my biggest detriment. I don't really know what my rival's biggest strengths are to be honest.

I am good on the distance, I 'hold' the water well by my hands and arms, but my start, turns and breakout are not so good as they have to be. Gemma is good in starts and turns and she is a perfect finisher. In Rome, she had more strength for the finish. May be she is so good in start and turns due to short-course training in America."

I see the pool as a place to enjoy racing, I enjoy the crowd and the people I am racing. The difference between 2008 was my thought of 'in a minutes' time I will have a gold' to before 2009 thinking 'here we go, take the 2nd 50 with everything you have and stick the finish, enjoy racing'. I am always grateful for my team and my family and enjoying what I do.

"At the Olympic Games I could see nothing, I was very excited. Control came with time and experience. You understand that they are the same as you - human beings with their own fears and they make mistakes too. Everyone may win, why not me?"

Honestly, I don't really know.

Krisztina Egerszegi is the best of all time: an amazing talent and perfect swimmer before the suit era. Next has to be Kirsty Coventry."

The moment that will live with me forever is when I realised what an amazing family I have acquired here in Florida. When I arrived back in Gainesville after my mother's funeral, I realised how many people care about me and my family and my feelings.

It was a moment when I broke the World Record in the semi-final in Rome. But you cannot live in the past for too long. And I must go forward."

"Downtime is usually spent with friends at dinner or making dinner (we attempted ice-cream yesterday! - and it actually turned out tasting and looking like ice-cream!). I love to try new things and I am learning how to cook! My passions are listening, counselling and 'The Alachua County Crisis Center' where I spend a lot of listening time on the phones with people in crisis. Also I recently attempted to land an airplane with a friend of a friend who has their pilot's license."

I do not have much free time. If I have some, I like to read books and watch cinemas with friends. But I like most to stay at home alone.

Love, a family, health, a first-class round the world travel ticket and happiness.

"Health for me, strength to achieve, health for my nearest, happiness and love."

"3 songs: True Colors, Eva Cassidy/ Fix you, Coldplay/ Haven't met you yet, Michael Buble. 2 books: How to survive on a desert island, and a recipe book for tropical island food. Film: why would I want to watch a movie when I'm on an island of palm trees, sun, fish and sand?! Luxury of my choice: endless supply of CHOCOLATE (British chocolate!)"

"I do not take an i-pod with me. A couple of romantic books - like " "P.S. I love you" ", and ""Remember me" " by Cecilia Ahern. I like tranquil and sensible things. I would take also a romantic film. No, I do not take an i-pod."

"In 2010 I want to graduate from college, race well at the Commonwealth Games and continue to work on the Suicide hotline to listen to people in need. I want to continue to write and publish a book that aims to motivate and inspire people whilst having them in fits of giggles on one page and in tears on another by 2012 and continue to enjoy swimming."

I do not like to look too far forward, but every swimmer, even novices, dreams to be a champion, Olympic Champion. I am no exception. I want to be selected for the next Olympic Games. If I get there, I want to win a medal. This season my goal is to win the European Championship title. I did it in 2008 so I must do it again.