Smith to race on Monday in France

MICHELLE SMITH will plunge back into a pool for her first competitive race since Atlanta when she competes in an international meet in Bordeaux next Monday and Tuesday. However the Olympic Games triple gold medalist confesses her current fitness prevents her taking the event "too seriously".

Although her participation has generated a good deal of excitement among swimming enthusiasts in the region, according to the meeting organisers, Smith, speaking from her home in The Netherlands yesterday, was more pragmatic about the two-day gala.

"I don't have very high expectations. I was asked to do this meet last March, said `yes', and I wouldn't go back on my word."

Smith, who will swim in the 50 metres freestyle and the 200 metres individual medley, one of the events in which she won a gold medal in Atlanta last summer, only resumed swimming twice a day earlier this week. "I am not very fit at the moment so I'm not taking it too seriously. I don't even know what day I will be swimming what event or whom I will be competing against."

The commitment to swim in the Christmas meet in Bordeaux was given before her four-medal haul - including three individual gold medals in the 400 metres individual medley, the 200 metres individual medley and the 400 metres freestyle - in the Olympic Games. She is also committed to an international meet in the Caribbean in the New Year.

"This is a very low-key time in the swimming season and a lot of the people who won medals in Atlanta will only recommence serious training in January or February. I imagine it will take me six weeks to two months to get back to any decent level and most swimmers will be aiming to get into the best shape for the European Championships (in Seville next August)," said Smith.

Is there any chance that her competitive spirit will take over as soon as she stands on the blocks in a competitive race for the first time in five months? "It won't be the same - in Atlanta I was standing on the blocks knowing I had put in five, six or seven hours training a day and, in those situations, your competitive instincts do come out. I haven't had the time to train over the last few months and I've only been swimming once a day until this week. I don't have very high expectations.

However Smith's decision to resume competition - even in a relatively low-key meet which includes racing on Christmas Eve - signals the first moves in her preparations for next year's European Championships and the World Championships in 13 months.