Lessons learned from Australia's disastrous London Olympic swimming campaign have world No.1 Cameron McEvoy poised for greatness at Rio.
Ahead of the Rio trials starting in Adelaide on Thursday, McEvoy, 21, is already considered the man to beat for the 100m freestyle Olympic gold.
And he is only expected to add to the hype in Adelaide after admitting he feels poised to set a new world-beating 100m time with yet another personal best at the trials.
But at just 17, McEvoy saw first hand how quickly a champion's fortunes could change at an Olympics.
On Games debut, a fresh-faced McEvoy watched teammate James Magnussen predict big things after scorching trial form only to be denied gold by 0.01sec in a London boilover.
And he looked on as Emily Seebohm broke the Olympic record in the opening 100m backstroke heats before tearfully accepting silver and infamously blaming a social media fixation.
Four years older and wiser, McEvoy said he wouldn't be getting ahead of himself no matter what time he posted in Adelaide.
"I wouldn't say specifically what happened to James (Magnussen) but, looking back at the Olympics, a lot of swimmers were not able to get to the time that they did leading up to London that year," he said.
"I can definitely take lessons from a lot of incidents where that happened, not to go in all guns blazing.
"I have to remind myself there is a possibility that I may lose.
"That gives me a lot more motivation, that there is a much bigger challenge to overcome."
McEvoy made the world sit up and take notice when he clocked a 100m PB of 47.56 seconds in January's Aquatic Super Series in Perth.
It would have won gold at the 2015 world titles in Russia and was the third fastest time in two years, bettered only by dual world champion Magnussen and American Olympic champion Nathan Adrian.
The 2015 100m world silver medallist felt he could eclipse that in Adelaide, putting him in range of the 46.91 world record set in the 2009 supersuit era.
"But if I am in that position before Rio, I have to take that step back, look at the big picture," McEvoy said.
"I have got the right support network around me to stay grounded even if I do a time like that.
"In the lead-up to Rio, I will train like I am further back in the mix and that I have a long way to go."
Share
