I don’t get starstruck, but you’d be crazy not to think it’s surreal when you’re standing next to someone like Michael Phelps

I was so excited about the London Olympics. I just wanted to be a part of it – I didn’t care if I was outside the venues dancing. A year before the Games, I thought, they’re going to need lifeguards, and Googled “London 2012 volunteers”.

At the time, I was a lifeguard at the Telford and Wrekin leisure centre in Shropshire. I’d worked for a few years in reception and the soft-play area when my manager suggested I train as a lifeguard. I took the National Pool Lifeguard Qualification and passed.