As one of the Olympic marathon swimming gold medal favorites, Greece’s Spyros Gianniotis is cool, calm and collected.

But his parents are nervous. His father is Greek, but his mother is English. “It is going to be Spyros and Thomas [Lurz],” quietly predicts his mother … as do other pundits.

“It’s going to be a tough race and they have to be on. I keep telling myself today is his day!“

To win a gold medal in 2008, the Olympic marathon swim winner (Maarten van der Weijden) had to swim at an average speed of 1:07 per 100 meters. We suspect that pace will be easily eclipsed with Gianniotis, Lurz, Mellouli and others in the mix today.

Copyright © 2012 by World Open Water Swimming Association