Being a great swimmer often has a painful price

The bin can't talk but it tells a terrific tale. It has a plastic bag inside and it sits on a chair.

- Rohit Brijnath

It is positioned at the bottom of a staircase, down which the swimmers come after a race. The bin at the world championships arena is simple and yet speaks a profound tale of effort, pain and limits.

The bin, you see, is to vomit in.

After he wins the 400m freestyle at the World Aquatics Championships, Germany's Lukas Martens has gone so hard that he throws up. He wins by 0.02 of a second and only because he gives everything. Lani Pallister knows the feeling. In the 1,500m at the Australian trials, when she touched home first, an official brought her a barf bag while she was still in the water.

Yup, more vomit.

After the grueling 1,500m final, Pallister, who wins bronze, tells The Straits Times: "I thought I was going to throw up from about 500m in." She smiles, she didn't.

There's a number that athletes swear by and reach for, a number that determines commitment, a number that in fact you can't truly measure. We've heard of 100 per cent, but what does it look like?

It looks like Moesha Johnson of Australia, who swims the 10km, 5km, 3km, 4x1,500m relay in open water (two golds, one bronze), then does the 1,500m heats in the pool and when we meet it's after the 1,500m final.