Swimming: Gibson's talent set to make big splash

James Gibson will be favourite to come away with not one, but two Commonwealth Games swimming gold medals in Manchester in a week's time after claiming his rightful place at the top of the world rankings after a record-breaking season.

The Australian press are predicting a myriad of victories in the pool while the English are typically cautious about talking up their chances against a nation where swimming is as big a part of the national culture as boom-erangs, beaches and barbies.

"Let the Aussies think what they like," says Gibson, who at 22 is Britain's latest breaststroke revelation. "They are an awesome swimming nation and they have every right to think they're going to dominate the Commonwealth Games, but I'm not intimidated by them. I let my swimming do the talking. It's all about what happens in the water. Everyone else races me, but I just race the clock."

An Essex boy, who comes from Witham, he was a recreational swimmer just three years ago, and the Commonwealth Games to him was little more than "something on TV".

"When I arrived at University I was pretty bored," he said. "Swimming seemed a good idea, but only after I'd tried athletics and tennis. They wouldn't let me join the team at first. There wasn't much space and I'd got a bit of a reputation for being a good-time boy, a bit of a lad I suppose, so they were a little apprehensive about it."

Three months elapsed before Gibson, then 19, began competing at higher levels with the élite swimmers at Loughborough University where he studied Politics with Economics. He surpassed all expectations and qualified to compete at the British Championships. Claiming to have been training elsewhere, he returned from a heavy week of drinking and partying in Majorca to win a bronze medal. His time from the heats would have won him the gold.

"After that, I started to realise that I had a God-given talent, and decided to give it a go. I was knackered. I had hardly slept all week, my body was a wreck from the boozing, and I got chicken pox. How I won a medal I don't know."

Now, he says the days of indulgence are over, though he will have a few drinks every now and again. His day job is now being the fastest breaststroke swimmer on the planet. An intensive weekly training schedule consists of eight 90-minute sessions in the pool, four weight training work-outs, flexibility, and medicine ball exercises for explosive power. That coupled with a diet rich in protein and carbohydrate to fuel his muscled 6ft 3in frame is the making of a true athlete, but is it all worth it?

"You question it sometimes," he admits. "It's a tough sport and people should know what we go through. It's not a case of paddling up and down. These are the toughest people I know and they go to hell and back every day in training.

"But when you feel the excitement about these Games, you know there'll never be another opportunity like this – you have to embrace it. To have the support of your home crowd at an event this big is something special. It's been a tough time for swimming in this country over the years. It's time we gave people something to cheer about."

That, he says, is all he wants, for the moment anyway. A gold medal in Manchester will be the icing on the cake for the man who in April last year broke the Commonwealth 50-metre breaststroke record a staggering three times in the space of 24 hours. Like his team-mate and fellow Essex boy Mark Foster, he is a true patriot, cocky and confident yet proud to admit a sense of humility when he pulls on the Great Britain tracksuit.

His record speaks for itself. In less than three years, he has taken over the mantle of his heroes, the former world record holders Adrian Moorhouse and Nick Gillingham and moved British breaststroke swimming to another level with technical precision and elegance.

"It just hasn't sunk in yet," says Gibson, a British record breaker on his national team debut in Athens two years ago. "I don't consider myself to be in the same league as those guys. It was a great honour to take Nick Gillingham's decade-old British record and a memory I'll keep with me forever.

"Breaststrokers like David Wilkie, Gillingham, Moorhouse – they were all heroes," he adds. "I have so much respect for what they achieved. I'm just happy to carry on the tradition."

In true Essex style, he will adorn himself with a pair of gold trainers as he marches out to face the cream of the Commonwealth at the Aquatics Centre next week. "Gold is the only colour I'll be interested in," he says confidently. "People like Linford Christie, Adrian Moorhouse and Chris Boardman are all sporting greats who've won gold at the Commonwealth Games. It would be a dream come true for me to join that list."