Japan faces pool pressure

Japanese head coach Koji Ueno's plan for a low-key build-up to the Summer Olympics to avoid the pressure that has weighed down his swimmers in the past lasted as long as it took Tomoko Hagiwara to walk out of Sydney airport.

Multiple medal hope Hagiwara was ambushed by a crush of more than 100 Japanese reporters, photographers and cameramen when she arrived on Saturday for a one-day stop before heading off on Sunday to Hobart in Tasmania for further training out of the glare of Japan's competitive media.

"I was surprised to see so many reporters at the airport... Five policemen helped me get out of there. You may regret you expect so much from me now," Hagiwara joked to reporters after a brief swim in the Olympic pool.

The training camp in Tasmania is part of Ueno's plan to keep the run-up to the September 15 to October 1 Games as calm as possible.

"The next two weeks are very important to us," Ueno said.

"For the Japanese women, we have a good chance of sneaking onto the podium," he said.

Ranked third in the world in the 200 metres backstroke and 200 individual medley, Hagiwara is a media favourite in Japan because of her outgoing personality and attractive looks.

"I'm quite excited and just try to ignore all the media attention," the 20-year-old university student said.

"I'm not nervous at all and I'm not putting any pressure on myself," Hagiwara said.

Excessive media pressure has been blamed in the past for poor Japanese showings in the pool, particularly four years ago in Atlanta when women's team captain Suzu Chiba was expected to swim away with the 200 metre freestyle title, but failed to even make the final.

Chiba was controversially left off the team for Sydney, which her coaches have said was because Japanese swimming officials blamed her for the poor results in 1996 by the Japanese women, who had been predicted to win several medals.

Japanese women have won only three medals in the history of the Olympics, all golds in 1936, 1972 and 1992.

Hagiwara, who stepped into the swimming limelight by winning the 200 backstroke ahead of teammate Miki Nakao at last year's Pan-Pacific Championships in Sydney, is part of a strong women's team which has raised medal hopes again in Japan.

In addition to Nakao, Mai Nakamura is expected to battle for a gold in the 100 backstroke after finishing fourth in Atlanta, and Masami Tanaka is a medal possibility in the 200 breaststroke. Tanaka finished fifth four years ago.

Nakao and Nakamura are training in Japan and will arrive on September 10, while Hagiwara returns from Hobart a day before the Opening Ceremony.

In addition to Nakao, Hagiwara also has to watch for Spain's Russian-born Nina Zhivanevskaya, who won the 200 backstroke at the European Championships in July.

"I'm just trying to focus on my performance. I can't worry about what the other swimmers are doing," Hagiwara said.