The national team synchro swimmer broke both her heels when an acrobatic jump went awry during training in Calgary in October, 2003.

"I missed the safety mat by a couple of centimetres," said the 20-year-old Rampling, a Burlington resident until moving to Montreal to train full-time for the past four years. "I wasn't 100 per cent until last May."

Despite the injury and a late start training with new partner Marie-Pier Boudreau-Gagnon, Rampling managed to earn a spot in the Commonwealth Games at a qualifying meet earlier this month. Boudreau-Gagnon also earned the solo position on the Canadian team heading to Australia

Rampling and Boudreau-Gagnon are preparing for a busy schedule, which will include a provincial competition, a Russian open meet and the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia, all in a three-week period in March.

"We've only been a duet for two-and-a-half months, but we've managed to qualify for the Commonwealth Games," said Rampling.

Since 1986 when synchro swimming was introduced to the Commonwealth Games, the Canadian team has claimed the gold every time.

The Games will be held March 15-26, with the synchro competition set for March 18-19.

Following those Games, she and Boudreau-Gagnon and the rest of the Canadian team will have only a couple of years before the Beijing Olympics in 2008.

"New standards have been applied so that each continent can send only one country to the Olympic Games," said Rampling. "So now is the time to get a step ahead of the States and we're very confident we can do that."

Rampling and her Canadian teammates spent three weeks in Hawaii last summer preparing for the world championships in Montreal. The Canadian teams finished fourth and fifth, and in the combo event (technical and free programs) finished fourth.

A Burlington resident most of her life, Rampling started her career with the Burlington Synchronized Swimming Club at the age of 10.

Rampling just missed making the Canadian Olympic team in 2004, but has her eyes on the 2008 Games and maybe the 2012 Games as well.

"Absolutely, I'll be in my prime -- 22 and 26 years old -- for the next two Olympics," she said.