Lenny talks about Australia, World Championships and what to look for in Melbourne this week.

It’s Australia. It’s a world stage. It’s a scene all too familiar to Lenny Krayzelburg.

Talking to the two-time Olympian about the 2007 World Championships brings up some good memories. In 1999, Krayzelburg erased the world records for both the 100m and 200m backstroke events in Sydney. The next year he returned to Australia to win three gold medals at the 2000 Olympics, sweeping the backstroke events and leading off the gold-medal-winning medley relay.

“For me, Australia was as good as it got,” Krayzelburg said from his home in Los Angeles. “If you look at my career, all my highest achievements were in Australia. My world championships, world records and Olympic gold medals were all in Australia. So I obviously have very, very positive memories of [competing there].”

With World Championships starting today in Melbourne, Krayzelburg, who is sitting this meet out to rehab a recent shoulder injury, offers a look at the country and it’s love for swimming.

“Australia is a unique country for swimmers,” he continued. “The exposure you get there is amazing. For major competitions, the whole country gets behind it and is following it. It’s front-page news, the first story on TV, and I don’t think there’s any other country in the world that has that setting.”

Krayzelburg has served as team captain for the US National team and been on several trips around the world as a competitor. He talked about what happens during training camp, leading up to a major competition.

“Right now in training camp, each individual has their own taper and there are four or five coaches helping with that taper, plus each swimmer has input on their own taper,” Krayzelburg explained. “Some people are getting into the zone already. Some people are just relaxing and getting ready. For me personally, I think that’s what’s so special. Competing in Australia, even prior to the event, everyone [in the country] knew what was happening, and that’s what made it so special just to be there.”

He talked about behind the scenes during free time that friendships are developing and the youngsters tend to stick together while the veterans are settling into their own routine.

“People that are a little more experienced on these trips, people like Neil Walker and Jason Lezak, those guys are probably keeping more to themselves, reading, watching movies and relaxing,” he continued. “They’ve been there before, and these meets come with a routine. Since they’ve been to Australia, they’ve seen the sites before.”

Krayzelburg remembers sightseeing on several trips, and just enjoying the country and all it has to offer. As a former team captain, Krayzelburg has some advice to offer the team:

“The main message [I would give the team] would be to embrace the experience,” he said. “I was talking to Coach Dave Salo yesterday about how cool it would be to bring those times back when I competed in Australia because it was so unique and in our careers, you don’t get too many moments like that. So, I would say to really embrace the moment and be pretty relaxed mentally, don’t put too much stress on yourself. Obviously that’s going to happen, especially with the younger swimmers being nervous since this is the biggest meet many of them have been to, especially if they haven’t been to the Olympics. Just staying in the moment and enjoying everything around it would be helpful to making them mentally ready to race.”

For a competitor like Krayzelburg, sitting out a big meet like World Championships is tough. With his shoulder injury still causing issues, he’s turned his training to dry land, running and working out in the gym, staying mentally ready and making sure the rest of his body is fit, even if his shoulder still has some work to do.

“It’s hard for me [to sit out during a big meet] because I still follow the sport so closely,” he said. “Not being there is hard because I really miss the National Team and competing to be the best in the world. It is hard, but that’s life. All good things have to come to an end, right?”

As for his future, Krayzelburg is keeping an open mind, with the charge to Beijing still in sight.

“I can put a good effort in for about 14-15 months and I hope to be competitive enough. Certainly my mental state is there, but unfortunately my body is not there yet.”

While Lenny is out of the water, his time as team captain has given him an interesting perspective on how to prepare for a big meet. With U.S. Spring Championships coming up and a host of other meets on the horizon, Krayzelburg offers some advice to young swimmers heading to their first big meet.

“You have to enjoy these competitions. You train so hard, so many hours, to get to this point of achieving a goal and making it to the national championships, or your big meet. Now is the time to put it all out there and just enjoy racing. In our sport, unfortunately you have to train so much for those five, six or seven meets a year. I think every single swimmer needs to embrace those meets and just enjoy them. If you have that state of mind, I think the performance will take care of itself. If you put so much pressure on yourself, and you dread those competitions because of the magnitude or the competitors you have to race, I don’t think the result is going to be there.”

Watching from home, Krayzelburg expects to see some fast swimming at Worlds.

“After watching these men’s NCAA’s last week, I don’t know if there’s a limit to how fast people can go,” he laughed. “It’s pretty scary. I’m certain we’ll have at least three world records broken. At least three. I mean, anytime that Michael [Phelps] gets in the water you’ve got to expect a world-record swim somewhere there. I also think there’s some competition there so he’s going to have to step up to the next level, and that’s what he’s so great at. You know, that 200 IM, that 100fly with Ian [Crocker] and Aaron [Peirsol]’s backstroke, and there are some Europeans who can have a good run, so there will be some good swims happening. Obviously the Australian women, the sprinters especially, are swimming so well, and especially being in their home country, that could be interesting as to how well they’re going to do.”

With the meet getting underway Sunday, we’ll know soon if Krayzelburg’s predictions come to light.

You can follow the World Championships from the official site. To hear all the best behind-the-scenes scoop, stay tuned to SwimRoom.com.