As a student, there are never enough hours in the day to get everything done and still have a social life. Add to this five hours a day of swimming training, to get an idea what life is like for myself.

The Olympic ideal speaks of a balance of mind, body and spirit. I’m a semi-professional swimmer and I also read Medicine at the University of Malta. Both daunting tasks on their own, but together? I think they balance each other out.

Many a time people, from coaches to lecturers to friends have told me, that I have to choose either one or the other, but I’m happy with both.

Every session I give my utmost. I sweat and cry my way through tough sessions at maximum pulse rate because I know I have no chance to make it otherwise. I challenge my body to the limit and then I’m off to University to achieve harmony of body and mind.

Medicine is mentally challenging, swimming is physically challenging. This ideal of exercising body and mind in harmony is not a new one, but over a century old.

Student swimmer Pablo Morales took a break from studies for the Olympics of 1988: he failed to make the team, he felt he was too immersed in sport. Next time round, he kept up his studies throughout his training for the 1992 Olympics, he won the Gold. There is no guarantee that stopping my studies will boost my swimming career and vice versa.

Fellow students and friends always ask me how I manage to cope. At the beginning of the season I plan out my timetable, as most people do and decide which are the most important competitions and likewise, which exams need most effort.

I ask students in the years above me, for advice on when the hard core studying should start so that I know that before that date, I can focus just on swimming. Unfortunately, being the oldest swimmer I cannot obtain similar advice for my swimming, rather, I rely on my own experiences. Problems arise because major swimming competitions are held in May and therefore clash with exams. I try not to waste time, and give each task my undivided attention.

Baron Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympics once said “I have noticed that those who find themselves first in physical exercises are also first in their studies… the serious commitment in one area promotes the desire to be first throughout.”

I try to be the best swimmer I can possibly be. Similarly I try to be the best doctor I can possibly be, so that even though I may put less time into it than others I make sure I put in double the effort to make up for it.