Romford Town swimmer Junayna Ahmed will have the week of her life as she jets off to Japan for the Olympic games in Tokyo.

Junayna, who is 18 and has just finished her A-levels, will compete for Bangladesh in the 50-metre freestyle event on Friday.

Born in the UK, Junayna started swimming at six and joined a club at 11.

For the last few years she has trained with coach Gary Rogers at Romford Town Swimming Club.

Her road to Tokyo has not been easy, as like most club swimmers she wasn’t allowed in a pool for a great deal of last year.

She carried on doing Zoom gym sessions with her teammates and swimming when she could at the open-air lido in London, and even got to enjoy some open water sessions at Stubbers Activity Centre in Havering.

To qualify, she had to compete in the South Asian and Bangladesh Games, where she won several medals, and last year she also travelled to Gwanju pre-pandemic for the World Swimming Championships.

Added to this Junayna has studied hard for her A-levels and will wait for her results in August just like any other 18-year-old.

Unlike most, she will get to experience standing behind a block preparing to race the best in the world and share a pool with Olympic champions such as Adam Peaty and Sarah Sjostrum.

"It’s a dream come true," she said.

"I’ve had loads of calls from everyone and the Bangladesh Swimming Federation. My biggest supporters are my parents and family, Gary my coach and all at Romford Town."

After Tokyo she plans to continue swimming, and will aim to qualify for Paris 2024 while studying medicine at University in London, where she hopes to eventually become a doctor.

Junayna feels very excited about her upcoming adventure, saying ‘it will certainly be a very memorable experience’.

She will be swimming at 11am Friday (July, 30) and viewers can watch live on Eurosport.