Olympics: Boyle thrives on the changing environments

Lauren Boyle rates firmly among New Zealand's slim band of outside chances for a medal in the pool. Picture / Mark Mitchell.

Some athletes like the comfort of a familiar routine and location as they prepare for a major event.

Not so Lauren Boyle, who rates firmly among New Zealand's slim band of outside chances for an Olympic Games medal in the pool.

The Auckland swimmer will start in the 400 and 800m freestyle, on the back of finishing sixth and eighth respectively at the world championhips in Shanghai last year.

The last few weeks have been a hectic time for the New Zealand squad.

In Boyle's case, she spent time training back at her old University of California Berkley stamping ground; had two weeks at an intense training camp in Cairns, then had 12 days in Belgium before arriving in London.

It would not be every athlete's cup of chai but Boyle's loved it.

"It's really been a whirlwind but changing environments often is good for me," she said last night.

"I feel more stimulated and don't become complacent. When I'm stimulated I'm definitely getting more out of my training."

Boyle was last night flanked by backstroke hope Gareth Kean, silver medallist at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi two years ago, and breaststroker Glenn Snyders, who form New Zealand's three best hopes.

You hear swimmers talk of the quality of a pool and its water, but Boyle keeps it simple. "Really you're just swimming in a box of water, usually the marks on the pool are the same.

"I've been thinking about different pools and how people interpret the vision they have. Really, if you close your eyes they're exactly the same, but the lighting here is really nice."

Snyders talked last night of the swimmers' arrival into the athletes village. "It doesn't seem as overwhelming as Beijing. It's still a great experience walking into the village being welcomed by a haka. That always gives you goose bumps."

Kean, 20, has added about 15kg since his success at Delhi, which has made him feel he's able to swim faster in the 100m and made him more efficient over the longer distance. He's in action on Sunday in the 100m - the event at which he made the final at last year's worlds - and that's his priority of the two. However, once that's out of the way his focus will be the 200m, his medal-winning distance from Delhi.