ON YA BIKE EMILY BUT LET'S GO FOR GOLD FIRST

Emily Seebohm was a slip of a kid when she went to the last Olympics in Beijing and it didn't take her long to get into the swing of things inside the Olympic Village and Ian Hanson remembers a tongue lashing she'll never forget.

Mini-bikes were the order of the day, some members of the Australian team even purchased bikes to take home.

Others just hired them to scoot around the Village to head off to the meal hall, the pool for a sunbake, the athletes lounges and just to have fun visiting their friends from countries all round the world.

The Olympic Village can be so much fun. There is always something going on. Always so much to see.

But as the swimming program drew to an end this 16-year-old Brisbane schoolgirl was certainly carrying on like a tearaway teen, just a little too early for head coach Alan Thompson's liking the night before the biggest day of her career.

Despite missing the final of her individual 100m backstroke by just one place, Emily remained a vital cog in our 4x100m medley relay team with Leisel Jones, Jessicah Schipper and Libby Trickett.

If Emily could at least match it with the rest of the field, mainly the USA and China then by rights the Jones, Schipper and Trickett trio would take care of the rest.

But as Thompson and the Australian coaches walked through the Village to one of their final meetings, Seebohm charged past on her pushbike in her socks, oblivious to the importance of saving her legs for the all-important two laps of backstroke that could set the Aussie girls up for gold.

Needless to say young Emily was hauled into a meeting with the stern-faced Australian head coach, who wasn't at all impressed with his young charge's Village antics.

The sheepish youngster was seen heading towards her room to "rest up" for the next morning, with the words of the head coach ringing in her ears: "Put the bike away, put you feet up and get your head around what you have to do."

Emily then gave Thompson a pledge that she would deliver the swim of her life: "I promise I won't let you and team down."

And deliver she did.

Next morning Seebohm led off the Australian relay in a then personal best time of 59.33, a time that would have seen her win bronze in the individual final - and in doing so beat the two-time Olympic champion Natalie Coughlin.

The rest, as they say, is history and it was Thompson and her personal coach Matt Brown who were cheering the loudest as the tough-as-teak kid from Brisbane tore the water apart.

Jones, the newly crowned Olympic champion was next in with a sizzling sub-1:05 split against American arch rival Rebecca Soni, before Schipper, the bronze medallist over 100m butterfly flew through the water.

The anchor leg saw Trickett (the Olympic champion over 100fly and the silver medallist in the 100m freestyle) held off US "super mum" Dara Torres in her fifth Olympics.

It was gold to Australia in a new world record time and a successful defence of the crown won by the Aussie girls in Athens.

And what a moment for Seebohm, the rookie on the Australian team who would leave her maiden Olympics with a gold medal proudly around her neck.

Now two years on and Emily Seebohm at 18, has emerged as the girl most likely to lead Australia's gold medal charge into London in 2012.

After four solid days of racing at the Pan Pacs in California, Seebohm was one of only two Australians to win an individual "Olympic event" as the Dolphins faced up to the might of the US and the improving Canadian, Japanese and New Zealand teams. (Jessicah Schipper was the other in the 200m butterfly).

The strongly-built youngster, who is as competitive as anyone I've ever seen on an Australian team, took down two world record holders and an Olympic champion in two of the most impressive swims produced by an emerging swimmer in many years.

To take on Coughlin, the best technician and best under-water swimmer in world swimming and come up trumps to win the 100m backstroke was the first highlight of the Irvine meet.

But she trumped it when she took on the reigning world champion and world record holder in Ariana Kukors and swam past her in the final lap of the 200m individual medley.

Seebohm's individual silver in the 100m freestyle and outstanding butterfly form put her right on song and she matched Kukors in the breaststroke - the all-important lap in any medley.

When London comes around young Emily will be the key for Australia again as our girls shoot for a third consecutive gold in the 4x100m medley and expect her to be very much a part of our 4x100m freestyle relay too.

She could well be the star in waiting.

We'll all keep an eye on her progress through the Delhi Commonwealth Games where she will now go head-to-head with the British girls and that is certain to produce some exciting duels.

You can bet on an extended medal haul for this multi-talented girl who has grown up and shown enormous maturity against the world's best. A young lady nicely nurtured by Brown and current Nation al head coach Leigh Nugent, in his previous role as National Youth coach.

As for Nugent's final instructions for his young star when they check into the Village in London in two years time.

Well it may go something something like this: "On ya bike Em......but wait ‘til after the swimming's finished."