Comeback queen Rie Kaneto is gearing up for an assault on the 200-meter breaststroke world record at this summer's Rio Olympics, but admits she could just as easily have been watching the race on TV instead.

Kaneto qualified for the 200 breast in Rio with an extraordinary performance at last week's national championships in Tokyo, clocking 2 minutes, 19.65 seconds in the final to finish just 0.54 seconds off the world record held by Denmark's Rikke Moller Pedersen.

Kaneto almost quit swimming several times over the past few years after failing to live up to the early promise that saw her compete in the 2008 Beijing Olympics as a teenager.