IT’S A project that has been years in the making and finally Grant Turner has achieved his aim.

The Wiltshire freestyle star booked his place at London 2012 after picking up a silver medal in the 100m freestyle at ASA Nationals - the second Olympic trials - on Saturday night.

A matter of hours after the final at Ponds Forge in Sheffield it was revealed that Swindon's Turner will be part of the 4x100m freestyle relay squad representing GB at the Games, with Anthony James also joining the six-strong squad.

Four had already been provisionally named, those being Adam Brown, Simon Burnett, Craig Gibbons and James Disney-May, and Turner, who was part of the relay squad that reached the final of the 2011 World Championships, was thrilled to rubber-stamp his place having failed to produce at the British Gas Swimming Championships - the first Olympic trials - in March.

“Relief is definitely the main emotion and I’m absolutely delighted as well,” he said.

“It’s been a tough couple of months because I could see the build-up to the Olympics everywhere and knew I wasn’t a part of it.

“Before the race I was trying to stay relaxed and not think about the pressure.

“I’ve been working on getting to the Olympics for the past six to eight years and I wanted to achieve my dream, so it was right to treat it like just another swim meet.

“Failure at the British Championships was at the back of my mind but that was where I left it, and followed it up with a positive swim.”

The 23-year-old played his part in a blockbuster of a final in Sheffield having held the lead over Brown until the closing five metres.

Brown was somehow able to overhaul his rival in the closing stages to snatch gold, but Turner was still left with a personal best of 49.25, just nine-hundredths of a second down on the winning time.

While officially Turner is not eligible to represent GB at the Games in the individual event of the 100m freestyle as he has not met the required FINA ‘A’ time, a selection loophole means he does still have a chance.

As host nation, GB is entitled to enter one swimmer into the field. However, with Simon Burnett having triumphed at the British Gas Swimming Championships and Brown at ASA Nationals, Turner would appear to be down the pecking order.

The Swindon flyer is back in the training pool at Loughborough today and in a matter of days a provisional relay team of four from the six available will be named.

A training camp in Tenerife in July will provide the only diversion from Turner’s intensive training.

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