East Midlands Olympic Dreams

families, coaches - all with their The weight is nearly over. We are

in an Olympic year. -- the weight. The Olympic Park maybe nearly

finished, but what about the East Over the next 30 minutes, we will

introduce you to some of our Olympians. It will be close.

will take you to meet their families. We will get a feel for

they will to win and find out which East Midlands town has become the

Olympic dream factory. In just a few months' time, here in

the Olympic pool is where we have our high is tops of the East

Midlands gold. Four years ago, as one or Rebekah Adlington stun sport

with a double triumph in Beijing. It catapulted her and her family

into a whole different world. So what better place to remember what

it is all about. This could be the gold-medallist. All my goodness it

is. That image is one that will stay with Kate Adlington. A moment

in time which made her hold her breath. How did she do that? I do

not know. A moment that stopped the sporting world. She is now the

greatest freestyle or in history. On August 11th, 2008, early in the

morning, out in Beijing the 400 metre freestyle was about to begin.

Where were you and what were you doing? In our living room.

Completely unable to sleep because we decided that was we were not

going to Beijing to watch it, we were going to turn it into a family

event. This is going to be interesting. There was an

atmosphere of anticipation, all of us hoping that she would do the

best she could. There was a bit of a stunned silence to start with. As

it started, it was, this is is -- this is that now. It is up to

Rebecca. I have talked about the drama of the race. It is huge.

I got to nearly four o'clock, I found the biggest coup to none has

so far and I hid behind it. I thought this is so tense. All of us

by this point were screaming at the television. We were literally

slumming it for her. Addington is going to be the gold-medallist. My

goodness it is! But it wasn't until her name came up that we knew that

she had won. That was a masterful swam. We were just on her feet.

Laura was crying her eyes out. Just floods of tears. She was like, what

has my little sister done? Rebecca had won Olympic gold. And become

the first British woman to do so in the pool for 40 years. It was just

the start of things. Six days later she took gold again in her main

event, the 800 metres. Our Gold Medal and our new world record.

Rebecca Adlington stand up and salute the world. It was a week

that state -- changed her will and the face of British swimming.

work so hard and it finally paid off. -- I work so hard. I am so

pleased. Great Britain has our new swimming heroine. Her name is

Rebecca Adlington. Rebecca started swimming at the age of four,

alongside her two sisters Laura and Chloe at the council-run pool. By

the time she was at secondary school, she was already winning

competitions. So much so that when she was 14, her mother was forced

to give up work to keep up with her training demands. If you are there

one that is driving them, you're not going to do it. They have to

drive you. It has to be their commitment and desire to be the

best they can be. So she never pushed Becki but she has always

there to help. This one is Rebekah's. We have Becky stocks she

has a way. Well she is that training camp. The dogs are part of

team Adlington. They and her family keeper grounded because her heroic

son Beijing made her a household name. And overnight celebrity. --

an overnight celebrity. She has learned how to handle it. It is

well-documented that things have not always gone the way she has

wanted them to go since Beijing. But she was only 19. It was a

massive learning curve. I am just disappointed that I couldn't

improve. What you see is what you get with Rebecca. I am proud that

she is still the same person now it that she was before. Over the last

four years, Betty has then been given the all be, the freedom of

Mansfield and had a pill named after her. -- Rebecca has had. -- a

swimming pool. How are you feeling? Nervous. Defensive. Everyone says

you should qualify, but it does not happen like that in sport. It is

task in hand and we're going to do everything we can to help support

Rebecca in that call up to next March. Rebecca is the current

British Commonwealth world and Olympic champion. She couldn't have

been in better shape. She knows that we will love her no less or no

more, irrespective of what happens in London. She knows that. But I

just do see that there is Rebekah the doctor and Rebecca the summer.

It is nice to have balls. Is nice to watch what she does what she

does and it is lesson of the other side of her as well. -- nice to

have. What a great family. Watching them

you can see why. It has been a mad world for them but it is a world

that so many hundreds of athletes would do almost anything to be part.

Not just Olympians. The Paralympics has been set personal bests in

successive games on these shores. It is why the London Paralympics

will be the biggest ever has. Richard White it wants to be part

of its summer she has which from marathon running to sprinting. --

of it so much he has switched from. He is a world champion and world-

record holder. An elite athlete with a training routine to match.

And he is the face of TV at campaigns. Richard Whitehead is

Britain's Blade runner. There is one its Women gallows. Mother and

father's albums say it all. Right from the start, sport has been a

driving force in his life. The lad from Loudon was born without legs

and has spent a year of his childhood using wooden prosthetics.

But despite the challenges he was always pushing the boundaries.

power of sport help me get by. They help me understand what life is all

about. I was not given a silver spoon. I was not given everything

on a plate. I have had to earn the respect I have now. It was hard at

the beginning. But his approach everything, I can do it. There were

times when I was struggling in certain areas, may be mobility was

because of the prosthetics, there are the memories that Eubank in the

pit and those boxes. You store for the Times that a tough now. -- that

you put away. It has made me the person that I am. Now his daily

routine is that other prospective Paralympian champion. Richard is

the current world record holder in the 200 metres and has this ability

class. But it was marathon running a really got him started. The only

to care up -- duly took it up and 2004. But since he has completed 24

races, running up African mountains and setting a series of landmark

for disabled athletes. My 2004 race was the hardest thing I have ever

done in sport. At 26.5 miles it is a long way for an able-bodied

person to run, never mind a double leg amputee and that has never run

a mile before NRA's. Richard uses his experience to motivate others

with his talks taking him from schools to big business. And an

association with the American army charity wounded warriors. Even when

he goes to America to talk to the soldiers but have lost arms and

legs, not of it lot of people could do that. There has to be back

connection. Children just follow him like the Pied Piper. So I want

to be like Richard. But now his main focus is the Paralympics.

Lottery funding lets them access first-rate facilities. But just in

his second season on the track, there is plenty of adjusting to do.

These are the ones that are based for track work. It is important

that I get my running technique right with those. There is less

contact with the ground with the spikes. As an athlete you used to

running. I am at am not used to this kind of speed work and the

effect has on my body. challenge is to put this world

records so far out of everybody's touch. We want to be waiting for

their opposition to arrive. There is not much point in them to come.

I have to train hard today. I have to eat well in the morning to set

me up for the day. You might be wondering why Richard is not

attending the marathon at London 2012. The answer is decant. The

longest event that caters for his classification as the 200 metres. -

- he cannot. In New Zealand he became world champion and he has

since broken the world record. But this summer will be the biggest

race of his life. It is not just Fermi. -- it is far my family and

friends and for every one that has supported me over the 35 years that

I have been here. I will get into that stop line in my best shape. If

Viacom eight, I have done the best I can. But I will not. -- if I come

I am Sam Holden. My Olympic team is to win a medal as a team and make

the overall final. I can remember the day after their -- after we won

the bid for the Olympic Games. For most of us may have been working

with some of the older guys for 20 years. It is definitely getting

more tense. I am Katie. My Olympic dream is to be with the squad that

goes to the Olympic. There are about eight players from Leicester

who are taking part. It is a massive achievement for our club.

Hockey in England is massive. In her club games we get mums and dads

coming to watch. To have thousands of people there to watch you in

your sport would be incredible. name is Rebecca and my dream is to

compete in the shot putt. I cannot wait to give something back to

everybody who has supported me and to take part in front of a home

crowd and have all my friends and I am a director of swimming at

Loughborough University. My Olympic dream is for every British swimmer

to come away from London 2012 knowing that a great job has been

done. I am sure we will put on a great spectacle in Britain and all

the visiting nations and on TV around the world we can do these

things and it is something good for us. It is good for the nation and a

feel-good factor will come out of it I am sure. We can put on the

greatest show but in the end the glory comes from medals. Here are

our ones to watch from the East Midlands. On deep track Andy Turner

was an medal winner last year. Lisa Then Simon Terry made his Olympic

debut back in 1992. On his day he could be special. Liam is world

champion in the 50 metres but that is not included in the Olympics. He

is good at 100 as well and we think She is back to fitness after an

operation and she is probably our Rebecca Adlington will have a heap

of pressure on her but she has the temperament and talent to win gold

These are our athletes in search of glory. Just getting to the Olympics

can be a titanic struggle. Take Badminton. Chris Adcock is battling

another former silver medallist Nathan Robertson for just one place

They were out of it and they have come back from know where. How do

the athletes feel now do you think? Very nervous and a little stressed.

It is like preparing for the biggest exam of your life. Home

advantage can be a very big deal. That puts the pressure on your old

partner for that one spot. I know but it is great to see the young

badminton players coming through and performing. I would never write

off Nathan but Chris has a world silver medal now so who knows.

level of support has always been improving and it is Grade just now.

Yes, I am very jealous, we used to have to fight for physio and weight

training, it is this little percentage that can make a

difference between winning gold or not getting a medal at all. As she

was seeing, the level of support available to Olympians these days

has been utterly transformed. Lottery money does a lot more than

let an athlete concentrate on their sport, it can pick an entire

network around them. The British Institute of Sport is one example.

It has earned the name the dream factory. Blog Berra has sport

through its roots. -- Loughborough. We are the envy of the world.

Something very special happens here which is a good job actually

because as an Asian we had a lot of catching up to do. The Australian

model had a huge impact on their performance at those Games. -- as

at Nis in we have a lot of catching up to do. -- a nation. When you put

them on the start line you know they are in the best shape they

could ever be. This man plans to be on the Olympics starting blocks. It

will be his strengths and his technique which will put in the air

but there is a whole team behind him. -- put him there. The hard

work starts long before he even gets in the pool and so does the

science. You might look at an athlete exercising and you think

something is happening but unless you measure it is just a guess. As

hard as you can with the first three and then we will just

continue. Certainly it gives the athlete confidence if they know

they are doing a good job and produce personal bests. Physio is

about maintaining muscle and tendons but it is about more than

that. It is like the psychology couch. It is quite a relaxed

atmosphere and that is what we need to get an effective treatment. It

is also when they start to talk and mourn and all be different things

come out. We do hear a lot. What sort of things, can you tell us

now? No. We are taking some measurements which we often do when

they are doing hard pieces. It is a good indicator of how well they are

fuelled. How we use that data has changed and our understanding of it,

especially looking at individual athletes. We are able to use the

data are effectively to monitor their training. Very fast turn! 20

years ago we were jacks of all trades. Now we have all these

bestiality is there. Behind the scenes do you think we in Britain

have become world leaders? Yes. If we are not we certainly should be.

I came from a club with a coach, that was it and then coming into a

system like this you have everything and it helps you so much

more as an athlete to develop and you know you have had that edge

over some other countries. So many sports get their inspiration here

from the elite level to the students. It is going to be tense

in the lead up to London 2012. The athletes are getting really excited

and putting up a lot of pressure on us to make sure we get then be

exact environment that they want. It is that environment which makes

this place special. We are so proud of athletes that by the time they

get to the starting blocks we know the amount of hours and pain they

have put in to get there. Knowing we are a small part of that is

really good, it is a really good feeling. I can prepare my rest --

best for the races and put it in on the day. We might be scientists but

we still loves sport. -- love sport. A my name is Dan Reeves, I am a

paralympic discus thrower. I have had so many friends and family get

tickets to the Games. I'm really want to put on a great show for

them and to do the country proud would be a great honour. I am an

Olympic gymnast and my Olympic dream is to try to improve on my

Beijing possession and to help the team as much as I can. --

possession. -- position. For us it is a very special Olympics, we will

not have a home once again. Olympic dream is to win a medal. It

is something which would embrace all of my training, everything I

have ever worked on. It would be so nice to have one. It would mean

everything. I was 4th last time in Beijing and that was really hard to

be so close yet so far. It is just unbelievable really that I can get

that chance to do that and represent my country in front of my

country. It is a dream come true as There is nothing quite like an

Olympics. A whole Olympics happens once in a lifetime if you are lucky.

For six years for our athletes getting there has been everything.

Now, for six months, they will think only of a success. There is

the champion. He looks absolutely superb. They are not the only ones,

we have seen how their families, coaches and supporters do all they

can to put these men and women at the top. Now, though, in this

Olympic skier of 2012 it is about their talent and perhaps a little

bit of luck. So many Olympic dreamers. For some of them, he in

London, in just a few months, their dreams will come true. We will be

with them every single step of the way. Being in 2012 is pretty crazy

but it is exciting at the same time. You cannot even dream about it, it

will be absolutely amazing. To be going to the Olympics is phenomenal.

We are excited about putting on a short and doing the business really.