Floating ambitions

SEA Games gold winner Natthanan keeps her Olympic dreams in check

Swimming sensation Natthanan Jankrajang made a big splash at last year's SEA Games by winning four gold medals, but she would be more than happy with a spot in the last 16 at next month's Beijing Olympics.

The local queen of the pool is well aware that when it comes to the big stage, she is still in a different league compared to swimmers from other parts of the world.

"I have many disadvantages compared to swimmers from Europe and America or even Japan and China who are well-built," says the best female athlete of the 24th SEA Games.

"My goal is to reach the B final and rewrite my personal best. Anything beyond that will be a bonus," says the post-graduate student of the University of Thai Chamber of Commerce.

The 22-year-old will compete in three disciplines: the 100m, 200m and 400m freestyle in her first Olympics attempt.

She qualified for Beijing after claiming the SEA Games gold medals in the 200m and 400m events with the respective times of two minutes and 03.00 seconds and 4.20.01.

Earlier this year, she won the 100m at the Singapore Open, the last Olympics qualifier, to book her third Beijing spot.

Only two Thai swimmers - the other is Nimitta Thaveesupsoonthorn in the 400m individual medley - will be in action at the 29th Olympics, which underlines the dearth of good swimming talent in the country.

Internal conflicts at the Swimming Association of Thailand have proved to be a stumbling block for developing good talents. And Natthanan is not afraid to speak about the lack of support from the organisation.

"We have never received enough backing from the association. Without having a dedicated psychologist, trainer and nutritionist, there's no way you can produce good-quality swimmers," she adds.

Unlike many youngsters who become world champions at the age of 15  only to retire at 19 due to burn-out problems, Natthanan takes it one step at a time to make sure that she will be able to compete for a long time. "I don't want to over-train and end up tiring my muscles. I want to

compete as long as my body allows me to. But if the association takes swimmers for granted, I see no point in continuing," she says.