Johnson vows to bounce back at London 2012
September 7 - Liz Johnson has vowed to put the disappointment of failing to win a gold medal at the International Paralympic Committee Swimming World Championships last month behind her and bounce back to stand on top of the podium at London in 2012.
The 24-year-old, from Newport had claimed that the 100m breaststroke gold in Eindhoven would be between herself and fellow Briton Charlotte Henshaw with the duo trading world records throughout this year.
But new American sensation Mallory Weggemann upset the form book to claim gold breaking the world record, lowered by Henshaw during the heats, by nearly three seconds in the process.
Henshaw took silver just over four seconds behind Weggemann while Johnson was forced to settle for bronze 0.14 of a second further behind.
"I think every athlete would be lying if there said they weren’t thinking about London 2012 in the slightest because it is such a massive event and it is just on the horizon," said Johnson.
"And my aim is to keep developing and improving steadily until London 2012 - and obviously winning some more competitions too.
"You always go in to win every competition so I was a bit disappointed not to do better at the World Championships especially considering how much training and planning went into it.
"I would have obviously liked to have swum faster but the thing is so much of my training and preparations were right and most of the race went exactly as I expected it to.
"In the last 50 metres when I saw the American girl breaking away I started scrambling a little but when I probably should have just stuck to my rhythm.
"So that cost me a bit but I suppose it is better for me to lose to her now and at a World Championships rather than at London 2012."
Weggemann, who won eight gold medals and broke nine world records in Eindhoven, will be tough to beat in London but Johnson is not disheartened, however.
"I’ve got the European Championships next year in Berlin but even that is a form of stepping stone towards the Paralympics, they really are that big," she said.
"I have a four-year training cycle which is planned out to have the Paralympics at the centre of it, and a lot of training and hard work goes into it.
"When I won my medal at Beijing, people asked me how long I had been training before - was it six weeks?
"Two months?
"Six months?
"But people don’t realise the Paralympics is the culmination of years and years of training, all of the training you’ve ever done because it’s the biggest event in the world."
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