Olympic Games in Australia later this year.

And the fact that the 22-year-old Yale University student missed out so narrowly on the Atlanta Games of four years ago will make him relish the experience of Sydney all the more.

Fahy became the first Bermudian male swimmer to make a Pan Am Games final last August in the 100 metres butterfly in Winnipeg and in the process qualified for Sydney.

"It's been a lifelong ambition of mine to take part in the Olympics,'' said Fahy yesterday.

"Four years ago, I missed the qualifying time by four 10ths of a second and I've trained that much more over the last four years to make it this time.'' And that hard training is bearing fruit as Fahy continues to set his standards higher.

Last weekend he broke two Yale records -- an impressive achievement given the famous university's rich swimming tradition.

Through the '60s and early '70s, Yale dominated American collegiate swimming and produced Olympic gold medallists. But in recent years, Yale, which does not award sports scholarships, has lost out to colleges which do and hence its swimming domination has diminished.

Competing in the annual Harvard/Princeton/Yale meet in Harvard's Blodgett Pool, Fahy broke both his own 200 yards individual medley record, as well as setting new figures in the 400 yards IM.

In the 200 IM, Fahy clocked 1:48.50, beating his previous best of 1:49.23 and registering a new national record.

And in breaking the Yale 400 IM record, Fahy shattered Jeb Slowik's mark set eight years ago. Fahy's 3:54.64 was more than three seconds inside the old figures of 3:58.52.

Fahy said: "Training is going really well at the moment because I spent last summer over here in the US, working with my coach Frank Keefe, who was coach of the 1984 US Olympic team and manager of the 1988 team, so he's one of the best there is.'' Fahy trains for nine sessions per week and described the task of combining his studies with his swimming as "challenging''. Each morning, Fahy is in the pool by 6.45 a.m. for a 90-minute session and he supplements that with three two-and-a-half hour afternoon sessions per week, which include circuit and weight training.

"It's not that bad,'' said Fahy. "When you start doing well, it makes the training seem easier. The pay-off of the Olympics makes it all worthwhile.'' He is spurred on by training with other top-class swimmers, such as George Gleason of the US Virgin Islands, who recently missed out on Olympic qualfication by 200ths of a second.

In Sydney, Fahy, who started swimming with the Sharks club at the age of seven, will be concentrating on the 200m IM and the 100m butterfly.

His expectations are realistic and based on doing himself and Bermuda proud rather than expecting to challenge for a medal against the wealth of world-beating swimmers produced by the likes of the US and Australia.

"I'm nervous about the Games in an excited sort of way,'' said Fahy. "I'm pretty much looking to enjoy it and aiming to set my best ever times at the Olympics.'' Stephen Fahy: gearing up for his first-ever Olympic Games.