After long wait, Jones finally set to win gold

By Julian Linden

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Among the best women breaststrokers for nearly a decade, Australia's Leisel Jones has captivated the swimming world with her attempt to win an individual Olympic gold medal.

Raised by her mother after her parents separated, Jones began swimming almost by accident.

When she was a toddler, she fell into the pool where her mother was working as cleaner and sank to the bottom. The pool's head coach, Ken Wood, agreed to teach her how to swim.

It was the start of a hugely successful partnership that transformed Jones from a shy schoolgirl into one of Australia's most marketable athletes.

She finished second in the Olympic 100 meters final as a 15-year-old in Sydney, before winning another silver in the 100 at the 2001 world championships in Japan then the 100-200m double at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester.

Jones broke her first world record at the 2003 world championships in Barcelona but nerves got the better of her in the final and she failed to win either title.

The same thing happened at the Athens Olympics in 2004 and Jones suddenly found herself under fire after the public turned against her because of her glum reaction to missing out on gold.

Jones was stung by the criticism and decided to make big changes in her life. She dumped Wood for Swiss-born Stefan Widmer, chopped off her long hair and adopted a more relaxed approach after admitting the pressure was making her depressed.

It was a move that provided instant success and at 22 she is now in the best form of her career.

She won the 100-200 double at the 2005 world championships in Montreal.

She collected four golds at the 2006 Commonwealth Games, then won the 100 and 200 at the 2007 world championships, also in Melbourne, to become the first swimmer, male or female, to win the breaststroke double at successive championships.

She regained the world records for both and has taken women's breaststroke to a new level.

She won a gold medal in the medley relay at Athens in 2004 and Beijing represents her best chance of claiming that elusive individual Olympic title.

(Editing by Robert Woodward)