Rio 2016: Team GB swimmer Aimee Willmott going for family bragging rights as well as Olympic gold

The Middlesbrough-born swimmer has followed her father. In Rio, she'll overtake him

Willmott is hoping to go one better than her father, Stuart (Getty)

Swimming is in Aimee Willmott’s blood: her dad Stuart swam at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics for Great Britain and she did the same in London. But she will soon have the family bragging rights – come Brazil she will be a double Olympian.

Not that her dad minds. He is delighted that his daughter has surpassed his achievements in America all those moons ago where, although he didn’t bomb – that’s not allowed in a public pool, after all - he didn’t qualify from the heats. Aimee didn’t either in London 2012 so this time she hopes to go one better for family Willmott.

“My first aim will be to get the final,” Willmott, who competes in the individual medley, tells The Independent. “Then you never know, all sorts of swimmers can come out of woodwork. Get to the final and then it is anyone’s game.”

Her father will be cheering her on in Rio – as he has all the way. “It was always a competition between me and him to see who could finish highest at the Olympics,” Aimee says. “But now I’m a double Olympian he can’t compete! He’s happy about that though. When he swam at the Games he was 15th [in the individual medley heats]. I was 11th in London so I beat him. It was quite nice. But he says I have more talent.”

“He’s been a huge inspiration for me - all my family have. I just always really wanted to swim. It was always a family thing: dad obviously swam and my sister did too. And mum used to come along to meets. They had to drag me out of the pool – so there was never any pressure on me to swim. It was just something I loved doing.

“Then I started getting good at it – I had some talent and I thought if dad could do it, why can’t I? He is great when I’m struggling or when training is hard. It’s good to know I can pick up the phone and talk to him about it. He knows what I’m going through.”

Willmott, 23, now trains at the London Aquatics Centre where she competed in 2012 while her dad coaches in their home city of Middlesbrough. But the whole family - mum, dad, sister Chloe and boyfriend - will be together in Rio. “It’s nice for them too because they have put a lot of effort in to help me get there,” Willmott says.

We are speaking a week before she is due to fly to the GB training camp in Belo Horizonte and the anticipation is evident in her voice.

Willmott, wearing Funkita swimwear, poolside (Getty)

“I’m really excited,” she says. “I’m just running around, packing, making sure I’ve got everything. All my kit, toiletries, spare googles, spare hats, I don’t want to leave anything behind. That would be a disaster.”

And she hopes good preparation will mean good performance. “I’m really excited about my form,” she says. “I’m training really well. My season has been good and I’ve been consistent with some quick times. If it goes to plan I will be peaking at the right time. You want to swim well at a target meet – and obviously the Games are that – I don’t want to just do OK. I want to give the best I can…But you never know until you dive in.”

Diving in alongside her will be the Hungarian Katinka Hosszu, who was a convincing gold medallist at the European Championships in London earlier this year, and GB team-mate Hannah Miley, who took silver. Willmott finished fourth. She knows where she went wrong and is determined not to make the same mistake in Rio.

“I was disappointed,” she admits. “Not so much with the position as the time [4min 40.08sec]. I’d been swimming well all season but my head got the better of me. I put too much pressure on myself. The pressure of expectation. I overthought it and got wrapped up in it. That can’t be the case in Rio. I need to treat it like any other competition. Just one with a few more people watching!”

Pressure is hard to turn on and off though, admits Willmott. “I did it in London a bit too. I found myself in the same position. I just need to be more relaxed. It is a fine line between realising that it is a massive event and you are there to represent your country and that is an honour and you need to give it your best but also trying to treat it like any other event. That is difficult.

“When I first walked in to London I was so overwhelmed: by the village, the sheer volume of people, I was just so excited. You don’t know what to expect. So the level of excitement was almost draining, just taking everything in. I was so exhausted after I swam because of all the excitement in the build-up. In Rio I need to level out emotion wise, not be on cloud nine.”

Willmott failed to qualify from the heats in 2012 (Getty)

The medley consists of one length each of butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle in that order. So of the four which are her best? “I’m naturally strong at back, but breasstroke is good too,” Willmott, who is sponsored by the Australian swimwear brand Funkita, says. “So that makes me strongest in the middle part of the race. Freestyle is last and I can be good at that. It depends. But the key is not to panic. If you are a bit behind after the first leg, don’t panic. You have to stick to your race plan. If you panic you can push too hard in the backstroke and be too tired for the free. It’s the hardest thing – but the most important thing.”

And when the swimming is done? “We are staying until the end so we can go to the Closing Ceremony because we are missing the Opening Ceremony. I plan to do some sightseeing, watch other events. I missed that in London, I was just in the Village so I really want to get some tickets. There will be a bit of partying too, potentially! It’s the end of our season so it is a chance to let our hair down and enjoy Rio.”

Hair down, medal round the neck hopefully. Dad will be very proud.

Aimee Willmott wears the new Luma Nation collection from Australian swimwear brand Funkita