When Caitlin McClatchley edged out Australian swimming sensation Libby Lenton to take Commonwealth gold in the 200m freestyle in Melbourne back in 2006, Britain knew they had unearthed a real medal hope for Beijing.

The Northampton swimmer had burst onto the scene the previous year when she won bronze in 400m at the World Championships in Montreal, but her victory in Melbourne showed she was ready to jump to the next level.

When she then backed up her gold in the 200m with a second success in the 400m, it became inevitable that pre-Olympic hype would surround McClatchley.

However, at last year's World Championships, again back in Melbourne, she failed to make the final of the 400m and then only finished seventh in the 200m, and in the fickle world of sport, an athlete's stock can fall as quickly as it rises.

Nevertheless, opponents should discount McClatchley at their peril, with the 22-year-old explaining that her performance at last year's World Championship was not all that it seemed.

"I'd been ill before the World Championships with flu so I knew that I wasn't going to be at my best," she told eurosport.yahoo.co.uk at the launch of Speedo's new Fastskin LZR Racer swimsuit.

"But still my times were better than I thought they would be so I have looked to move on from that and I'm really confident about this season.

"I have just got back from a great training camp in Florida; I've been working to get my immune system stronger by taking vitamins and supplements; while I've also been working on my strength and condition."

It is a big year for British swimmers. First, they have to qualify for the Olympics at the trials in Sheffield at the end of March; then Manchester hosts the World Short Course Championships in April; before the big one, the Olympics in August; and McClatchley is determined to peak at just the right time.

"I'm looking past the trials," she admits. "Obviously I am looking to qualify and that has to be a major thing because if you don't do well at the trials you won't go to Beijing, but I am looking at the bigger picture.

"The Olympics is the biggest sporting event in the world, so you want to do the best you have ever done in that one event, but you just have to try and focus on that, and not get distracted by everything else that surrounds it."

McClatchley is cautiously optimistic that it could be a big Games for the British swimming team.

Her boyfriend Liam Tancock is a medal hope in the 50m and 100m backstroke events, and McClatchley believes that others can step up too.

"There is probably going to be good mix in the team of older, more experienced athletes and then also lots of younger competitors who will be there at their first Olympics, and they are always people who have a great attitude, a fresh attitude," she said.

"We can't predict any medals at this stage because we don't know what the other countries like China and the US will do, but I have lots of confidence in the ability of my team-mates, and I feel that we can really make a positive impact."

Confident and self-aware, McClatchley exhibits the type of attitude you would hope to see from an athlete in Olympic year, and if she needs any further advice she need not look far.

Her uncle Alan McClatchley won an Olympic bronze back in 1976, while her parents both represented Scotland at Commonwealth Games level, so it was perhaps inevitable she would become a swimmer.

"I suppose I never really had a choice," she jokes.

"My parents didn't force me into swimming or anything but I was aware that I had a strong family background in the sport so that has spurred me on into thinking that I could become a great sportsperson someday."

That someday could very well come in China this summer.

Sean Fay / Eurosport