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As a child I was very involved with sports and I knew at age 9 that I wanted to be an Olympic champion.

I had dreamed of being at the Olympics since I was 7 years old.

Getting to the Olympics was, has always been, my swimming dream since I was 8 or 9 years old. You know, right after I started swimming it was, 'I want to make an Olympic team. That's where I want to be.'

My childhood dream was to win the Olympics, and I've done that. Everything else is icing on the cake.

It's been a dream for me since I was six years old to go to the Olympic Games and to finally have that dream realised is something massive for me.

My childhood ambition was to be an Olympic swimmer like my aunt, but that died a quick death when I discovered other sports. I swam very competitively till I was 15, then I swam for fun until I was 18. But athletics remain a very big part of my life.

Like every other athlete, I always dreamt of playing at the Olympics, and it feels really good to see that dream materialize.

I was an athlete when I was growing up.

The Olympic dream was born in 2010 during the qualifications to Vancouver. And when I was watching those Olympics from the sidelines, I felt that I wanted to have my Games. I understood that it wouldn't be easy to make them, especially now that in Russia there are a lot of strong girls.