Olympic and world champion Ruta Meilutyte is thirsty for more glory at the 4th FINA World Junior Swimming Championships which gets underway in Dubai on Monday.

The 16 year-old Lithuanian is the biggest star at this event which has attracted a record 753 swimmers from 91 countries.

Meilutyte took gold in the 100m breaststroke at the London Olympics before winning gold in the same event at the 15th FINA World Championships in Barcelona last month.

She also holds the world records in the 50m and 100m breaststroke, both of which she set in Barcelona.

“This competition is very important for me as I continue this season. I can see a bit of a challenge coming my way, but I am really looking forward to Dubai," said Meilutyte who described the Hamdan Sports Complex where there championship will run from August 26-31 as a "great facility".

“I was happy with my performances in Barcelona, now I’m feeling relaxed and looking forward to racing. I’ve entered nine events, more than I would normally swim so am looking for personal bests and hoping for a good competition. This is a fantastic complex, one of the best I have ever seen so I’m keen to swim here,” she added speaking to the media at a pre-event press conference at the venue on Monday.

She is keen to improve on the world records she set at the World Aquatics Championships in Barcelona.

"I have trained really hard for the past few weeks and I am really looking forward to the competition here," Meilutyte said. "It's going to be great fun and I'm motivated to swim fast. I want to see if it's possible to go faster than Barcelona."

Abdulla Al Wahebi, Secretary General of the UAE Swimming Federation and Organising Committee Member said: “We are delighted with the number of entries we have received, and are pleased to be welcoming so many teams from around the world to Dubai. We look forward to seeing some fantastic performances in the pool this week.”

“We are very excited to see stars such as Meilutyte in action but we are also looking forward to seeing some breakthrough performances from lesser known swimmers from developing swimming nations as they establish themselves as stars of the future,” added Al Wahebi.

“This competition gives swimmers from all countries the opportunity to get a taste of international elite competition and and take the motivation and the lessons learnt back to their home countries.”

The competition is for the best juniors in the world, girls aged 14-17 and boys aged 15-18. With many of the swimming powerhouse nations like the USA, Australia, UK, China and Russia sending strong teams including multiple Olympians, the competition will be tough.

Carol Zaleski, Chairman of the FINA Technical Committee, said: “This competition will see a mix of current stars and stars of the future, and is a very important event on the FINA Calendar. This provides the opportunity for developing swimmers to compete internationally and move onto the next stage of their careers.”

UAE swimmer Ali Ahmed Saeed said that it was very important for their team to get the experience of competing with top level swimmers, and he would be doing his best to break the national record in his event.

“We are very excited to be hosting this event which is another important step in our long term program to develop swimming and aquatic sports in the UAE. Over the past three years we have seen tremendous growth in swimming and aquatic sports, and this can be attributed directly to these events inspiring children to participate in swimming,” said Hessa Al Kous, Vice-Chairman of the Organising Committee.

“We thank FINA for their support of the development of aquatic sports in Dubai through awarding us the rights to hold these events,” she added.

The previous World Junior Championships have uncovered such swimming royalty as Spain’s Mireia Belmonte Garcia, who went on the take “Swimmer of the Championships” at the 2010 World Swimming Championships (25m), the first major event held in Dubai.

Garcia also took two silvers at the London Olympic Games last year, and two silvers and a bronze at the World Championships in Barcelona last month.

Another discovery at previous world juniors was Camille Muffat of France who took gold, silver and bronze at the last Olympics, and two bronze in Barcelona in July.

The Championships will consist of heats each day from 10am-12.30pm, and semifinals and finals each night from 6-8pm.

Tickets are Dh20 per day or Dh80 for the week, and are available at the door during the event.
The Hamdan Sports Complex is on Emirates Road (previously Dubai Bypass Road.

A free bus service will operate each day from the Mall of the Emirates and Dubai Mall for the morning and evening sessions. All details are on the event facebook page.

All the information about the Championships can be found at www.fina-dubai2013.com, and on the Facebook page FINAWJSCDubai2013.