Globale News » Friday in an overtime shootout a

She describes herself on Twitter as 70 per cent professional athlete, 10 per cent rockstar and the rest involves doughnuts. Outside of the pool, swimmer Fran Halsall admits to showing off, dancing at every opportunity, listening to 70s rock and taking her hairy hound Blu to important meetings.In the coming weeks, that 70 per cent will rise for the GB star who has qualified for her third Olympics and was recently Queen of the European Championships, winning five medals, including three gold. But dont think the fun will completely cease in Brazil. The Southport-born 26-year-old opens up about her character in and out of the water, how the pain of missing out on a medal at London 2012 is driving her on and how being Sky Academy Sports Scholar boosted her.If I had to sum myself up, Id say confident, smiley and resilient. Im Xena: Warrior Princess!Its just that I can be a bit of a diva when I want to be. My coach would suggest I like to be the centre of attention - or a show off!If there was karaoke on Id be the one dancing. I love music - from Deep Purple to Taylor Swift. It depends on what mood Im. I like to listen to gangsta rap before I race. I wont be the one with my head down and headphones on, Ill be the one singing trying to get everybody to sing along with me!What Ive learnt in over 10 years on the British team is that being resilient is a very important part of being an athlete. Halsall (second right) and current Scholar Siobhan-Marie OConnor (right) enjoyed relay glory at the Euros Its how you deal with the poor performances and not meeting targets and turning it into a positive. Not achieving hurts but its the analysing what you did right and what you did wrong. The quicker you understand that the better it will be for you to move forward in your career.That was the main thing that followed London 2012. That was hard and every athletes dream is to win an Olympic medal so it took time to deal with that. Now Im just excited to be going to another Olympics. The London Games was an amazing experience in front of a home crowd and watching everybody else in Team GB in all the other sports. But I missed a medal by 0.08 seconds in the 50m freestyle.So London was a bitter / sweet experience for me. My race I just didnt get right and I was very disappointed. I took two months off after the Olympics and reassessed everything.I got a new coach and a new programme and set myself new targets and became more focused on the 50 rather than the 100. I won a bronze at the World Championships in Barcelona so that was a nice year after London. Xena: Warrior Princess is probably pretty handy in the pool as well It was all about taking some of the pressure off and enjoying it again. I was delighted with that.Being on the Scholarship scheme in the build-up to the 2012 Games was amazing for me though. Even after London I came back to Sky Sports and did work experience.Im interested in the media and what happens behind the scenes so I learnt loads of things like how to build and develop a story. I met some of the presenters and looked at all these things thinking about what I could do after my swimming career.The link with Sky and getting access to that has been brilliant.Seeing my big face on the billboards was interesting! Luckily I had goggles on so you couldnt tell it was me so much!One of the other Scholars Liam Tancock trains in my squad and Ive got a great relationship with him. Its been amazing sharing experiences and talking about preparations and getting an insight to other athletes and what they go through. Thats all been fantastic. Fran secured five medals at the European Championships in London The last few weeks in the pool have been great. I did really well at the Europeans and I got through the Rio trials which is actually tougher than the Olympics.Its all about qualifying and I did! It was a good week. After January I put in plenty of work and hopefully that should stand me in good stead for this Olympic cycle.Its the 11th time Ive won at a British Championships and so its like a time trial rather than an actual race. I find it hard to get myself up for it and motivated.You think about a World Championship or Commonwealth Games when all the best swimmers are there and the atmosphere is electric. In a race like a 50m sprint that helps. You get the extra adrenaline and atmosphere builds.At a trials there are few people watching like its just mum and dad in the stands! I find that difficult. Im just so pleased I was able to put in a world class performance.Most of us didnt know we had made the Rio squad until a week after. For London it was announced there and then and there was a parade which was nice but it was good getting all emotional telling my parents Id made Rio on the phone. Fran and her trusty four-legged friend Blu Im very excited about the Olympics but I dont want to get too excited too soon! I want to build it up nicely. Now weve had the Euros it starts to get tense with a big block of work. I just want to make sure my skills are right and my fitness is good.Im not thinking about Olympic medals or anything like that. Its just about getting from A to B. Having said that, if I got on the podium there would be some Prosecco and Id be with my boyfriend, parents and my dog.My dog is a sproodle - a cross between an English Springer Spaniel and Poodle. Hes crazy as anything but hes so cute. He comes everywhere with me - he even came to Glasgow for the trials.He also goes into the changing rooms at the rugby with my boyfriend [St Helens rugby league captain Jon Wilkin]. Hell also have a haircut with me at the same time and I take him to meetings with solicitors - hes more of a rock star than me. WHATS COMING UP FOR OUR SCHOLARS27 MAY: Lucy Garner, Boels Hills Classic29 MAY: Lucy Garner, Gooik10-16 JUNE: IPC Athletics European Championships in Grosseto, Italy23-26 JUNE: Lucy Garner, National Road Cycling Championships in Stockton-on-Tees Also See: About the Scholarship Meet the athletes Blogs Videos Galleries Devon Kennard Lions Jersey . -- Phil Mickelson came to the St. Detroit Lions Jerseys . -- Jay Haas and Peter Jacobsen took the second-round lead Saturday in the Champions Tours Legends of Golf, teaming for a 6-under 48 in windy conditions on the par-3 Top of the Rock course. http://www.authenticnfllionslockroom.com...d-Elite-Jersey/. You can catch all of the action LIVE on TSN2 at 6pm et/3pm pt. The Heat reached that mark Saturday night when they ruined the Philadelphia 76ers home opener. Custom Detroit Lions Jerseys . Villarreals victory in Valencia kept it in fourth place and in control of Spains last Champions League spot. Uche broke free in the area in the 10th minute and was brought down by goalkeeper Keylor Navas, who was shown a direct red card. Tracy Walker Lions Jersey . The Professional Referee Organization, which manages game officials for the U.S. Soccer Federation and MLS, notified the Professional Soccer Referee Association of the lockout and said replacement officials will be used.ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Although the Anaheim Ducks blew a two-goal lead in the final minutes of their return from the holiday break, Saku Koivu made sure their franchise-record winning streak kept rolling along. Koivu scored two goals, including the game-winner 51 seconds into overtime, to lift the Ducks to their 10th straight victory, 3-2 over the Phoenix Coyotes on Saturday night. Anaheim improved its NHL-leading record to 28-7-5 and went to 14-0-2 at Honda Center this season, but only after Martin Hanzal and Keith Yandle scored late goals to earn a point for the Coyotes. "We try to forget what happened," said Koivu, who had three points. "We had a 2-0 lead and they got a lucky bounce on the first goal. Its one of those things where you try and regroup as quick as you can. You knew there was a good chance there would be overtime, so you start, so you start thinking about that." The Ducks are the only team in the NHL this season not to lose at home in regulation, and theyre seven points ahead of Los Angeles atop the Pacific Division. They also have a 13-game points streak (11-0-2), three shy of the club record. "I think its neat," Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau said. "Any time you can be a part of something nobody else has done, I think its a special occasion." Andrew Cogliano gave the Ducks a 2-0 lead with his 11th goal of the season on a deflected shot in front early in the third period, with Koivu getting an assist. "For 55 minutes we were really good and we felt we werent giving them much," Cogliano said. "Then they got the odd goal and we let down a bit, but the bottom line is we got the win." The Coyotes have lost all four meetings with Anaheim this season, but they made a furious late run at the Ducks.ddddddddddddHanzal cut the lead to 2-1 with 4:34 left after the puck caromed off the boards behind Jonas Hiller. "We got a break off the glass and it was nice to see us capitalize on it," Phoenix coach Dave Tippett said. With goalie Thomas Greiss pulled, Yandle scored the game-tying goal with 44 seconds left. "It shows that we dont give up," Yandle said. Hiller stopped 23 shots and improved to 17-4-4, matching Viktor Fasths franchise record with his eighth straight victory. Anaheim has held its opponents to two or fewer goals in nine of the 10 victories during the streak. After yielding the first goal in each of their past five games, the Ducks got on the board first on a short-handed goal by Koivu in the first period. The veteran Finnish centre skated into the Coyotes zone and blasted a slap shot from the left faceoff circle past Greiss. Greiss stopped 16 shots in the scoreless second period, including multiple Anaheim shots on two power play opportunities. "We just kept at it, worked really hard and just kept coming and never gave up," Greiss said. Phoenix, which fell to San Jose on Friday in an overtime shootout at home, has dropped six of its past seven games. NOTES: The Ducks have travelled more than 28,000 miles in their league-leading 24 road games thus far this season. ... Anaheim travels to San Jose to play Sunday, and will have an opportunity to extend its NHL-leading road winning streak to seven games. ... Coyotes captain Shane Doan missed his 10th consecutive game with an illness. No timetable has been set for his return. ... Entering Saturdays game, Phoenix was 1-5 in its past six games with three of the losses coming in overtime shootouts. ' ' '