Halsall is a medal hope for Britain at the 2012 London Olympics

Liverpool's Fran Halsall wants to use this summer's Beijing Olympics as a stepping stone towards a gold medal at London 2012.

The 18-year-old City Of Liverpool swimmer will compete in three events in China, including the 100m freestyle.

Halsall told BBC Radio Merseyside: "I think that everyone goes to the Olympics wanting to win.

"My main aim is to get a gold in London, but just to compete in my home country would be fabulous."

Halsall won four medals at the recent World Short Course Swimming Championships in Manchester, and she has not written off her chances of doing well in Beijing.

"If you don't go to the Olympics thinking you want to win then there is something wrong with you," she said.

"That's what I've been dreaming about since I was a little girl so if I got anywhere close to that [winning a medal], I would be ecstatic."

He [Scott] is driven and he has a mindset for the Olympics Fran Halsall on Michael Stott

Halsall also paid tribute to former Great Britain head coach Bill Sweetnham: "He made us more of a professional team then we had ever been.

"The work ethic that he brought to Britain made us realise what we needed to do to compete with the rest of the world".

Halsall says she also has a great deal of respect for Sweetnham's replacement Michael Scott.

"He is a really nice guy," she said. "He is driven and he has a mindset for the Olympics."

Halsall revealed that she will have very little support when competing inside the National Aquatics Centre of China due to the way the tickets have been distributed.

"There are not many tickets going around in Britain for the swimming," she said. "I think the whole of Britain have been allocated three tickets for the Olympics.

"We are going to have three supporters in a 20,000-seat stadium, which is going to be interesting.

"My mum and dad were a bit upset because they couldn't get tickets. The had been saving up for that this year so they're a bit gutted.

"But they're just happy that I'm going and that they can watch me compete on television."