FOUR-TIME Olympic medalist Rebecca Adlington believes Wiltshire swimmer Jazz Carlin’s ability to bounce back from adversity will stand her in good stead for this summer’s Olympic Games in Rio.

Despite being 25-years-old, Swindon's Carlin, who now lives in Bradford on Avon, has yet to appear on swimming’s greatest stage after glandular fever followed by a bout of tonsillitis ruled her out of the selection race for London 2012.

After missing out on a home Games, the University of Bath-based competitor admitted she contemplated quitting the sport but has since turned things around, particularly in the last two years.

She hit top form in 2014, winning the Commonwealth, European and British titles over the 800m freestyle as well European and British gold and Commonwealth silver in the 400m freestyle.

Last year was another stellar 12 months as, two years after missing out on the podium in the 400m freestyle, she finally picked up an individual World Championship medal with bronze in the 800m freestyle.

The British swimming team for Rio 2016 will compete at the European Aquatics Championships in London, with the event the last chance to see the nation’s best compete internationally before the Olympics.

And Adlington believes Carlin’s recent world results have proved she is finally showing off her true potential in the pool.

“I think the past two years Jazz has become the athlete we’ve all known she can be,” she said.

“I think London, and the Worlds after London as well, was a really tough time for her, she’s been plagued by illness and everything.

“It’s just been really difficult, but the true thing about Jazz, and this is why she is a true world-class athlete, is that she’s bounced back.

“Most athletes that have missed out on a home games, that have had a disappointing Worlds, that have dealt with illness would just go “OK, I’m done.”

“They’d lose so much confidence, you’d write them off, you’d never see them again, whereas Jazz isn’t that, Jazz comes back fighting every single time.

“I just think now is the time, I think she probably had to go through those disappointments to realise how strong she is and how determined she is.”

Adlington was speaking back at the London Aquatics Centre, four years on from her 2012 Olympic heroics as she looks ahead to this summer’s European Championships at the same venue.

The European Championships will be the last major event before the Rio Olympics and Adlington fully expects Carlin and her fellow Brits to lay down a marker ahead of the party in Brazil.

The European Championships have not been held in the UK since 1993 and have not been held in London since 1938.

“The British swimming team are looking absolutely incredible at the moment,” she added. “They’ve had a fantastic couple of years, from the Commonwealth Games to the World Championships in Kazan last year they absolutely smashed it.

“This summer it’s nice because they’ve got their trials where they qualify for the Olympics next month, which is really good.

“Then we’ve got the European Championships in London in May where they’ll get to size up the whole of Europe and just see where everyone’s at, see what everyone’s feeling and thinking ‘Oh yeah, I’m going to rule him out of the Olympics.’

“That’s great, but I also think we’re in the perfect opportunity to win lots of medals at the Europeans as well because the team has got so much depth now, I think that’s the difference.

“I think a lot of those guys that were making finals in London will want to get on that podium at Rio.

"I think some of the younger guys that didn’t get to experience a home Olympics have got a fantastic opportunity now to race here at the Europeans, get that experience so they’re not being thrown in at the deep end going into an Olympic Games with 17,000 people.

“That is quite daunting. It is quite a lot of pressure, whereas they can come here and hopefully learn how to cope with that and learn how to deal with that.”

Tickets for the European Aquatics Championships – the biggest event to be held at the London Aquatics Centre since the 2012 Olympic and Paralympics Games – from May 9-22 are now available here.

VIDEO: Rebecca Adlington predicting strong European Aquatics Championships for GB. Click on the video above