Eloise Wellings

London was my first Olympics, but I tried for three beforehand. I was measured for the Olympic uniform three times before London, and I finally made the team. It was a big deal, and it was quite emotional, which is probably one of the reasons I didn't perform at my best.

The ebulliently sharp mind of 'White Christmas' director Walter Bobbie made me tremble and strive in the same breath. The deceptively 'simple' dialogue of David Ives, asking every actor to just. say. it. Float it on the breeze; it doesn't need 'explanation,' just energy and truth.

I think that there's something extremely beautiful about the Olympic ideal and its motto - 'Swifter, higher, stronger' - it's such a beautiful motto, and it celebrates everything which is the antithesis of death and dissolution and entropy.