IF you’re going to bow out, you might as well do it in style. Aimee Willmott will call time on her swimming career this summer, and after today’s announcement of the British squad for the Tokyo Olympics, the Teessider will sign off on the biggest stage of all.

A Commonwealth Games gold medallist, who has also finished on the podium at long-course and short-course European Championships, Willmott will compete in her third Olympic Games when she clambers onto the starting blocks in Tokyo.

A career that began in the Neptune Centre with Middlesbrough ASC, and that has encompassed Olympic appearances in London and Rio, will culminate with a final outing at the Games. There will be tears no matter what happens; above all else though, the 28-year-old will experience a huge amount of pride.

“I’m still enjoying swimming, and I still love the sport, but I need to work out what the next chapter of my life is going to be,” said Willmott, who will compete in her preferred event, the 400m individual medley, this summer. “I’m excited about that, even it means one chapter of my life is going to be coming to an end.

“It’s still incredible really to think I’ll have had the chance to compete at three Olympic Games. Never in my wildest dreams did I think that would be possible. I can still vividly remember the feelings I had before competing in London – that’s nearly a decade ago now.

“So much has happened since, it’s been a whirlwind really. Some years have been amazing, some years have been terrible, but not many people can say they’ve been to three Olympics, especially in swimming. I’m going to be part of a pretty special club.”

The last couple of years have been especially challenging for Willmott, who based herself at the high-performance centre at the University of Stirling after her previous training set-up in London was closed down.

The loss of central funding after the Rio Olympics presented obvious difficulties, to the extent that Willmott questioned whether to continue after last year’s Tokyo Games were put back 12 months because of Covid. Financially, it would have made sense for Willmott to retire last summer. The sportswoman in her, though, wanted one final day in the sun.

“I did have to ask some serious questions last summer,” she said. “I had to decide whether to carry on for another 12 months, with basically no income, or call it a day and get on with the next part of my life.

“In the end, it was the swimming that probably decided it for me. I couldn’t really go and get a job because the world was in lockdown, so I got back into the pool and started training, just for the love of it rather than having anything specific to aim towards.

“To be honest, I think that rekindled my love of the sport. It reminded me why I’d got into swimming as a young child and devoted so much to it as a teenager. I was doing it for me, not for anyone else, and I’ve carried that mindset right through the last year.”

The competitive instinct returned at this month’s trials, when Willmott claimed the British title and comfortably finished within the Olympic qualifying time.

“It was such a relief,” she said. “It would have felt like such an anti-climax if I’d been retiring after the trials having not made the team.

“Thankfully, I felt good in myself and was able to give it everything. It was the same pool that I qualified for London in, and that was really the starting point in terms of my elite career. It feels like everything has come full circle. One more big push, then I’ll be ready to walk away.”