From a backyard pool to Paris: can Bronte's Canberra connection help win gold?

We know it's a stretch to equate a backyard pool in Ainslie to La Defence Arena in Paris but we're going to, because this little story is so Canberra.

It involves the pool of beloved Canberra sports journalist Tim Gavel. He's called seven Olympic Games over his long career but this might be the closest he gets to an actual medal.

Gavel and his wife Jenni Andrew are active in local swimming circles - their children Eske and Skinny have competed over the years - and they became friends with Australian Institute of Sport coach Shannon Rollanson.

"He happened to mention that Bronte might be looking for somewhere to live for a while, in the lead up to the Olympic trials," says Gavel.

"We have this area at the back of the house and she moved in for about seven weeks."

As for the chilly dip, Gavel says he and Andrew weren't home at the time.

"But Skinny assured us Bronte and her boyfriend Benfield got in, very quickly, and got straight out," he said.

Let's hope Campbell shows the same speed in the pool when she competes for Australia in the 4x100m freestyle relay this weekend.

At 30, she realises this might be her last shot at a medal. It's why she came to Canberra in the first place. She won gold in the 4x100 relay at the Tokyo and Rio Games and a bronze in the 4x100 mixed medley.

The idea of winning three gold back-to-back in the relay is one that drives her. And she knows that the relays, held on the first and second nights of the meet, set the tone for the whole Games.

In Tokyo they swam in front of empty stands, due to COVID restrictions, and after her break she realised she missed the excitement of competition.

"I really missed this. It's why I came back," she said recently.

"Getting to the competition pool, walking around it together, looking up at the stands that will not be empty this time - they will be full of people, they will be full of our family, full of our friends, full of our supporters - it's an incredible thing."

It's her first Olympics without her older sister Cate, who disappointingly missed out on the squad, and that's driving her even more. She knows too there's plenty of work to be done in the pool.

"This is why we do this, because we don't train for three years, get up at 4am every morning, we don't punish ourselves in the gym, we don't give up every social thing we have ever done in our lives just to keep doing that," she explained.

"We do it for the Olympic Games. The whole reason we like to do it is because it means something. It means something to you, it means something to your family, it means something to your country. I can't wait for it to begin."

Gavel's own Olympic journey began in Barcelona in 1992.

"I couldn't believe I was there amongst great commentators such as Tim Lane, George Grljusich, Ray Hadley and David Morrow," he says of his ABC counterparts.

"I was just this kid from the bush, I grew up in Condobolin and here I was in Barcelona."

He says he was overwhelmed by the sheer size of the Olympics at first and it took him months to recover once he got home.

"It's such an adrenaline rush, you're effectively working for 21 days straight without a break, it was hot, you're under pressure, you do come out feeling utterly exhausted," he said.

The last Olympics he called were Rio, where most of the commentary was done from the back of a truck at the rear of the Channel 7 Studios in Redfern, "which we affectionately dubbed Rio-fern".

His fellow commentator Jim Maxwell had a stroke in the chair next to him, in the middle of calling the sailing events.

"My grandmother had had a stroke and I realised pretty quickly what was happening, so I took over what Jim was calling from the screen and we just kept going while someone else helped him," Gavel said.

Gavel grew up listening to the radio working on his family's farm and set his sights on becoming an announcer. As a child he would sometimes turn his bedroom into a makeshift studio using egg cartons to improve the sound.

He hit the road in the early 1980s, often sleeping in his ute, searching for jobs in country NSW and Queensland. In 1982, he landed in Mt Isa and got his first gig.

In 1988, he joined the Canberra ABC team as a dedicated sports journalist and the rest is, literally, history. Olympics, Commonwealth Games, Raiders and Brumbies premierships, everything from international events to local weekend sport.

When he retired after 30 years with the ABC in 2018 he said, "It feels strange to be walking away because it's been my life. I feel like I've been around for most of the big moments in Canberra sport."

And hopefully on July 28 when Campbell is swimming for gold, he can say he's been there for another.