While many Team GB athletes have taken residence at the athletes village in Rio de Janeiro there are still plenty of participants finalising their preparations at the prep camp in Belo Horizonte.
Sprint kayak duo Angela Hannah and Lani Belcher will experience their first competitive action of these Olympic Games on August 15, with training at the prep camp continuing until the last minute.
Space on the water at the Lagoa Stadium will be at a premium when the action kicks off, but in Belo Horizonte, Hannah and Belcher are enjoying the lake all to themselves.
"There’s not much wind, it’s flat and it’s only us on the water. We’ve got easy access to the water and the gym, so if you want to go to from the gym straight to the water [it’s easy],” Hannah said of the prep camp. Hannah and Belcher paddled to ninth in K2 500m at the World Championships in Milan last August and hope another year of training and competing together will help propel them into the final in Rio.
Belcher, who debuted for Great Britain at last year’s European Games in Baku, hopes to make the most of her first Olympic appearance. Hannah, meanwhile, competed at London 2012, finishing fifth in the K4 500m.
“We just want to enjoy the experience, take it all in and make the most of it. We’ll keep training until we go to Rio, at which point we can focus on the racing,” Belcher said.