Canadian world champion Brent Hayden needs to overcome his recurrent back injury and formidable rivals to win an Olympic medal in men's 100-meter freestyle.
Hayden, 24, is the gold medalist of the two-lap event in the Melbourne World Championships, with a winning time of 48.43 seconds. But the world record in the sprint event has been brought down to 47.50 seconds by bulky French swimmer Alain Bernard in March this year.
Australian Eamon Sullivan, world record holder of the 50m freestyle, is also poised to make the podium in the event.
Hayden's injuries have prevented him from making big splashes this year and his world ranking is now down to the 25th. The swimmer has struggled to shape himself up for the Games.
"I haven't been prepared to race fast this year," he said at a press conference in the aquatic venue Water Cube, "but I've also been in heavy training so I've never really tapered."
In Athens, Hayden entered in the 100m and 200m free and three relay events, but didn't win any medals.
"My mistake in Athens was that I thought too much about my race. I was holding everything so high above me and it all came crashing down," he said.
He said this time the upcoming races have not really overburdened him. "This is the first time I'm coming in rested and ready to go," he said.
Hayden is among a total of 27 Canadian swimmers coming for the Games, including 12 female swimmers and 15 males.
"I feel like we could be coming home with two medals from both those relays (men's 4x100m and 4x200m free)," said teammate Rick Say.
(Xinhua News Agency August 7, 2008)