SYDNEY -- Yasuko Tajima said she was swimming faster than ever in the 400-meter individual medley relay, Masami Tanaka staked her claim on gold and Takashi Yamamoto might just smile his way into the medals. But head coach Koji Ueno seemed to be hanging on, white-knuckled, to the hope that new training methods will erase the prospect of Japan bombing once again in the Olympic pool in Sydney. "We've reflected on the past national team, so we've decided to provide a very happy environment for them (the swimmers) to train in -- a comfortable place so the swimmers can have good composure, because each swimmer has different demands," Ueno told reporters Wednesday at a press conference that, at times, seemed more like a group therapy session than the unveiling of a team aiming to stamp its mark as a force in international swimming. The comments of 200-meter butterfly swimmer Takashi Yamamoto, an Atlanta finalist, are a case in point. "I've been doing mental training at university, by relaxing and by smiling in the training," he said. "So, at the meets I am quite relaxed."
Japanese swimming officials scrapped the traditional boot camp approach to training after their much-touted athletes choked in 1996 in Atlanta, failing to bring home a single medal. In its place, they introduced more individual training and psychological exercises aimed at overcoming a trend in which athletes were under-performing in big international competitions.
Mai Nakamura, who holds the world's second-fastest time in the 100 meters backstroke this year, said: "I've been training mentally and I've been thinking specifically of the Olympic Games. So, I think my mental state is quite well prepared. If I swim as I imagined, it will be OK."