The 27-year-old, who has qualified for her second Olympics, doesn't know whether she'll keep swimming beyond London. The Perth native's time in the capital is also likely coming to an end after eight years, with a move to Adelaide on the cards to be with her partner.

''It's a bit of a compromise, he spent a few years living here in Canberra with me, so I'll spend a few years there. And then we can both move to Perth,'' she said yesterday.

It's all come at a vital time for Foster, who is desperately trying to slash her time in the 200m breaststroke after the double heartbreak of finishing ninth overall in the semi-finals at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Not only was she just one spot away from a place in the final, it was by less than a second.

''They had the morning finals which was really different for us, we'd never done that before and I actually swam a really good time in the heat because it was at night,'' Foster said of the 2008 Games.

''I swam just a little bit slower in the semi-final, because it was a morning swim, so if I'd just done the time that I'd done the night before, I would have been through.''

The result spurred her on for another four years, and in March she finished second at the Australian Olympic qualifiers in her pet event, the 200m breaststroke, in a field which included Beijing silver medallist Leisel Jones.

''Beijing was a fantastic memory now, so to get to a second Olympics was really exciting … I've got the experience now, and I definitely know I can do a lot better than what I did at trials,'' Foster said, noting she made the cut at the Olympic trials despite of a poor swim.

''I put my race together really badly, I didn't swim it the way I should have swum it and the way I wanted to swim it to do well.''

As a result, Foster is confident for her London prospects.

''I know now that, wow, I can do a lot better,'' she said.