By Peter Scrivener

Emily Seebohm carries the swimming hopes of the Australian nation into the Commonwealth Games in Delhi.

The 18-year-old is set to compete in eight events in India and has replaced her team-mate, the injured Olympic champion Stephanie Rice, as the world's number one-ranked 200m individual medley swimmer.

Her schedule promises to be a punishing one, as all the swimming events in Delhi are squeezed into six days but her coach Matt Brown is confident in her abilities.

He said: "Everyone knew her as a backstroker, but she has always been a medley swimmer. I expected this. She's just a very talented swimmer."

Born: 5 June 1992, Adelaide, South Australia
Trains: Brothers
Career highlights: Olympic 4x100m medley relay gold in new world record (2008), World 4x100m medley relay gold (2007), World 4x100m medley relay silver and 100m backstroke bronze (2009)
Personal best: 4x100m medley relay 3:52.69 (WR) 100m backstroke 58.88 (NR)

2010 form: Won two gold medals (100m backstroke and 200m individual medley) and four silvers at August's Pan Pacs in California.

In winning her golds, Seebohm beat the reigning Olympic champion Natalie Coughlin in the 100m backstroke and world champion and record-holder Ariana Kukors in the 200m IM.

She also posted personal best times in the 200m IM, 50m butterfly and 100m freestyle at the meet.

Seebohm also won three national titles - 100m freestyle and 50m and 100m backstroke.

Rivals: Seebohm is set to compete in eight events in Delhi - 50m, 100m and 200m backstroke, 100m freestyle, 50m butterfly, 200m individual medley and two relays - and could conceivably win medals in all of them.

In her strongest event, the 100m backstroke, she will face stiff competition from England's world record-holder Gemma Spofforth.

How she could win: Sheer grit and determination. Should be a fascinating race in the 100m backstroke with Spofforth. A punishing schedule is her biggest obstacle to winning a hatful of medals.

What she says: "It would be great for the two of us [Seebohm and Stephanie Rice] to be at the top of the podium [in the 200m IM at the London Olympics]. I don't mind where I am on top of that podium as long as we are one and two and we beat the Americans."

What they say: Australian swimming legend Libby Trickett on handling the pressure of swimming in eight events: "Em has that attitude to handle it, she is very laid back. She has that focus and determination, but she also can go with the flow to some extent and is enjoying it thoroughly, and that's the best way to deal with all the pressure and expectations."

Coach Matt Brown: "She has the skill and that steely attitude, and now she has won some big races and beaten some big people. I think she will be around for a while and she's still growing into it."

Sporting high: Seebohm rates coming third in the 100m backstroke at the 2009 World Championships in Rome as her proudest moment in swimming.

Sporting low: Missing the final of the 100m backstroke at the 2008 Beijing Olympics - Seebohm, according to Brown became so stressed by the enormity of the event she lost seven kilograms and was ''almost a deer in the headlights'' - she missed out on a place in the final by 0.12 seconds.

In action: The six-day swimming programme runs from 4-9 October.

Life before sport: None as Seebohm comes from a sporting family. Her mother, Karen, was a swimming coach and netball player and they moved from Adelaide to Brisbane when Emily was three where coaching jobs were more available. Seebohm tried football, boxing and gymnastics before settling on swimming.

She enjoys surfing, going to the cinema and listening to music away from the sport.

Her dad John played 300 games of Australian Rules Football although he says he cannot swim over 25m to "save himself".

Hero worship: Ian Thorpe - the Australian swimmer won five Olympic gold medals, three at the 2000 Games in Sydney and two in Athens four years later. Seebohm sat next to him at a meet and her coach said it was the only time he has seen her star struck.

Most likely to: Make sure she has her hair, nails and make-up done. After being told by her coach when she was 13 that "to be a champion you've got to look like a champion", Seebohm started getting up 10 minutes earlier to straighten her hair and apply make-up.

She is also likely to double check she has the correct swimsuit with her. At the Australian Olympic trials in 2008, she ripped two of her suits with her fake nails and with no time to find a replacement, had to swim with a hole in her suit.

Seebohm also took the ripped suit to the 100m backstroke final, although her sponsors were able to find her another costume and she went on to win the race.

Least likely to: Be found whizzing through the Games Village the night before a race on a bicycle, as she did in Beijing at the 2008 Olympics.

Seebohm, in her socks, pedalled past the Australian coaches the evening before the 4x100m medley relay final. The then 16-year-old was hauled before the head coach who told her, in no uncertain terms, that he was unimpressed with her antics and that she should be resting up for her backstroke leg.

The next morning, she led the Australian team off in a then personal best time of 59.33 seconds, a time that would have seen her win bronze in the individual final. The platform she provided helped the team win gold and break their own world record.

Did you know? 'C-Bomb', as Emily is known, always puts her swimming cap on from back to front. When Brown first saw her as a 10-year-old, he conceded "she was as rough as guts in the water". She says the one thing she can't live without is her mum cleaning her room.

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