Sweet revenge for defiant Roebuck

The image that drives every athlete in the run up to 2012 became second nature to the Rotherham swimmer at the British Gas Championships and Olympics trials at the London Aquatics Centre last week.

The 26-year-old won the national title in the 200m individual medley and 200m butterfly, as well as finishing second in the 400m IM, securing the qualification mark for London 2012 in all three disciplines.

Coming four years after he achieved the required time in each race but missed out on Beijing because he finished outside the top two, there was a sweet sense of revenge and justification for Roebuck.

“That was hard to accept in 2008, but having done it now it feels good to have hung around and stuck with the same races,” he said.

“That’s a pretty good feeling.

“Especially because everything since then has been planned for this and for all your training to go to plan, that is really satisfying.

“Beijing would have been fantastic but a home Olympics has more on it.

“And having got there now it gives you motivation to work even harder.

“I tried not to think too far ahead when I stepped up on the podium last week.

“It had been a while since I won two golds at the British Championships so to be honest I was savouring that.

“You can’t afford to look too far ahead knowing what has already gone before.”

What went before started so long ago Roebuck can not even remember how old he was when he first jumped into the deep end at Herringthorpe Leisure Centre in Rotherham.

A ‘natural talent’ for swimming was quickly discovered and he was parting the waves for respected club Rotherham Metro before his teenage years. His talent has been harnessed since then at Loughborough University, the base for so many of the 38 British swimmers who booked their places at London 2012 last week.

The disappointment of Beijing did not lay Roebuck low for too long, as he turned the frustration into a motivating factor to improve his times.

He enjoyed a career year in 2010 when he was one of the few Britons to win medals at the European Championships and Commonwealth Games.

Then he further hinted at his growing stature by qualifying for all his three disciplines at last year’s World Championships, before underlining his potential last week.

“I knew I’d been swimming well and believed I could go into the trials and have a good run at it,” said Roebuck, who won European bronze and Commonwealth silver in the 200m IM in 2010, and another silver in the 400m IM in Delhi.

“Right now I feel as though I can compete with the best guys in the world.”

And in the 200m butterfly he will do just that.

For that is one of the disciplines that Michael Phelps is strongest at; his performance in coming back to win gold from Milorad Cavic in the 100m butterfly at the 2009 World Championships in Rome a moment that will live long in the memory for this correspondent, fortunate enough to be pool side that night.

“You want to race against the likes of Michael Phelps, guys of that calibre,” said Roebuck.

“Phelps is probably the best of all time but when you’re racing against him you’ve got to greet him as just another opponent.

“You’ve got be mentally tough, headstrong and swim to your own strengths.”

Having proved his point last week, Roebuck has spent much of the past few days with a beaming smile on his face.

When he returns to training in a few weeks with long-time coach Ian Armiger, the hard graft of continuing that upward trajectory to London 2012 will continue.

“I’ve been with the same coach on the same regime for eight and a half years and it’s clearly working. Ian knows my strengths and weaknesses, and I his.

“We’re doing what works for us and that clearly showed last week.

“We’ve not really looked at the plan yet, I’m still enjoying the success of the past week. There’ll be some adjustments that we can make at training level, things that will improve my pace.

“I was fast last week but can go faster. What will help this summer is it’s same programme at London 2012 so last week was effectively a dress rehearsal for that. I know I have the physical and mental stamina to handle it.”

Joining Roebuck in London are fellow Yorkshire swimmers Jo Jackson, Lizzie Simmonds, Aimee Willmott, Rebecca Turner and Eleanor Faulkner.