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"Talking about the right choices. he says he can give advice as someone who also made wrong choices in the past and thus knows the difference." I learned some lessons at the FINA World Championships as I couldn't come up with my best at those events," Pieter recalls. " In Perth. 1998 I was good but didn't have the necessary experience to be the best. After Sydney I had a long break so in Fukuoka (2001, where he nonetheless collected four silver medals) I wasn't in the best shape. Before Barcelona (2003) I had food poisoning, before Montreal (2005) I had just recovered from a surgery in my lower back, Melbourne (2007) I was still far away from my best shape. so it was all about planning something but falling short of it. But you should cope with those losses. "He recalls that the food-poisoning came after he took part in the short-course World Cup season: he wanted to test how he could handle all the travelling. "I enjoyed the tour as a person, but as a swimmer l didn't profit too much from it. By the end I got so exhausted that the illness found me easily," he said.