BEST FRIEND Stacey Wood burst into tears as she watched her buddy of two decades scoop an Olympic silver medal.

“I felt like I was swimming with her,” she said after watching Jazz Carlin in the thrilling final of the women’s 400m freestyle on TV.

The near victory was even sweeter remembering the swimmer’s anguish at missing the London Olympics in 2012 following a bout of glandular fever.

“I was probably more nervous for the heat,” she said.

“I think she put herself under so much pressure because of what happened four years ago.”

But having watched the heat Stacey was more excited than anything for the final, knowing that her friend was in good shape.

“I had to sit there four years ago with her,” she said.

“It hit her harder than it would have done if it was anywhere else.”

“I saw the determination and the disappointment. Then I saw how hard she worked for four years.”

The pent up emotion spilled over into tears as she saw Jazz, who now lives in Bradford on Avon, touch the wall in second place.

“I was so, so pleased,” she said.

The pair have been friends since they were four-years-old and went to the same swimming club. They then went through the same schools, Tregoze Primary and Wootton Bassett School.

“Jazz has always been determined in everything she does. That’s just her personality,” she said.

Her competitive spirit was evident throughout her growing up. The pair would challenge each other over almost anything, even who was going to finish their homework first.

“It wasn’t just swimming it was everything,” said Stacey, who lives in North Swindon. “That’s her personality.”

While Jazz went to compete at a higher level Stacey got to the age of 18 and decided that she wanted to go to university and start a career.

She is now a sports therapist, but although they occasionally chat about swimming they concentrate on almost anything else.

After the race, knowing there would be a frenzy of media activity around Jazz, she sent her a text. At 5.30am Jazz responded.

“She said she couldn’t believe it. It hadn’t sunk in what had happened. She was still very level headed. It actually hadn’t hit home what she had done,” said Stacey.

'We always used to look up to Jazz'

JAZZ Carlin was a hero to young Tigersharks swimmer Rosie Broad.

And early on Monday morning she was glued to the TV to see her hero power her way through the water to a silver medal.

Rosie, now 22 and working at Nationwide on a graduate scheme, said the swimmer had been an inspiration to younger members of the club.

“We always used to look up to Jazz and Stacey Wood and Grant Turner,” she said.

Like Stacey, Rosie gave up competitive swimming to concentrate on her education.

But Grant went on to win a silver medal at the 2010 Commonwealth games as part of the 4x100 freestyle relay team and then competed at the 2012 Olympics.

Rosie and her dad got up in the early hours to watch Jazz in the 400 metres freestyle final and eventual gold medal winner Adam Peaty in the 100 metres breaststroke.

“I was so proud. Everybody who knows her knows how much it means to her. I was crying, I just burst into tears. You could just see how much it meant to her.”

And she thought that the swimmer had a good chance of being in the medals again this week.

“She’s still got the 800 metres on Thursday. You’ve still not seen the best from Jazz,” she said.

“She always comes back on the final leg, she is an endurance athlete.”