GOING for gold in next month's Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia, is a youngster from Haslemere Swimming Club. Julie Gould celebrated her 17th birthday just days ago in 36 degrees of heat in Southport on the Gold Coast, near Brisbane, where she has been at a special camp in intensive training. The talented teenager, who specialises in the 200 metre and 400 metre medley, travels down to Melbourne where she will meet her Haslemere Swimming Club coach Lindsay Powell before the games begin. "Everything is going according to plan," said Lindsay. "Julie seems very happy and I am looking forward to going out to the games on March 11 to be with her on her swims on days one, three and six of the competition," continued Lindsay, who keeps in touch with Julie by email. Although her swim on the first day of the competition means she will miss the opening ceremony, Julie will be able to make up for the early disappointment by joining in the fun at the closing ceremony a fortnight later. "I am very proud of her and it's always great to have a good swimmer competing at that level," said Lindsay this week. "We have both put in some long hours and the target is to make a final with a qualifying time that will give her the opportunity to join the Great Britain long-course team for the European event in the summer." A swimming coach for many years, Lindsay said that Julie "was one of the best swimmers I have ever coached and I've worked with some very good swimmers". Julie, who took up swimming at the age of nine, comes from Grove Road in Guildford and is a pupil at Tormead School. She joined Haslemere Swimming Club last summer and has thrived on the fine facilities the club has to offer and its standard of coaching. Already collecting major swimming titles, Julie qualified for the Commonwealth Games after competing with the British team in the 2003 European Youth Olympic Festival in Paris. She brought home medals for both the 200 and 400m medley events and has since won a place in the British junior team. Speaking this week, her father, Jeff, explained that Julie, who holds the Welsh national record at 400 metres, would be swimming for Wales, the country of his birth, after enjoying much encouragement and friendship from other Welsh swimmers. Mr Gould said that joining the local club had proved to just what Julie needed. "They worked out an amazing plan and since she has been with Lindsay, Julie has recorded seven personal best times." Planning to go out to see his daughter in action, her proud Dad, who will be leaving his wife and Julie's younger sister at home to watch her races on TV, Mr Gould said that his daughter would be competing in the 200m medley, 400m medley and 4 x 200m freestyle relay event. "Julie is very young and it is just a great experience for her. "If she makes the final, I will be really over the moon." He added: "If she gets everything right on the day, she could do something amazing." Training takes up much of Julie's time. She starts at 6 am at The Herons in Kings Road for two-and-a- half-hour sessions every day, except Wednesday. She is back again from 5 pm to 7 pm with a weekly target of 55 metres a week in the pool. This has left little time for schooling. Julie has taken half a gap year from school this year to train for the Commonwealth Games. Hoping to complete her AS-level German this year, Julie plans to return to full-time studies at school later this year to concentrate on A-levels in mathematics, physics and chemistry.