Despite being just 17-years old, South African swimming sensation Jessica Pengelly is not at all fazed by the daunting prospect of swimming against the world's best swimmers at the Beijing Olympic Games in August.

Pengelly caused a splash earlier this year when she smashed her 400m individual medley national record and broke the 200m individual medley record just a day later. She later qualified for the 2008 Olympics at the South African Championships and she then went on to represent her country at the FINA world short-course championships in Manchester where she again impressed.

In fact, the Somerset West-based swimmer is relishing the prospect of going up against 200m individual medley world record holder Stephanie Rice and Olympic bronze medalist Kirsty Coventry, both of whom she swam against at the world championships.

And with the Games just a few weeks away now, Pengelly admitted that she was a bit nervous at the prospect of attending her first-ever Olympics ? something she began dreaming about at the age of eight when she first hit the water.

But despite the hype and fuss being made about her many achievements thus far, the rather shy 17-year-old was realistic about what she would be able to achieve in Beijing.

"I just hope to improve my times," Pengelly told sport.iafrica.com. "But overall, I'm just going for the experience."

There is no doubt the South African starlet will be able improve on her abilities simply by competing against the world's best. But, at the same time, she will also be surrounded ? within Team SA ? by seasoned South African stars like Amanda Loots and Roland Schoeman who can pass on their valuable Olympic experience.

Loots, the African record holder in the 200m Butterfly, was impressed by Pengelly and the other young swimmers in the SA Olympic squad and was confident that they would impress in the future.

"I think it's great for the future that they're going to the Olympics when they're still young," said Loots to sport.iafrica.com. "They're going to get the experience and it can only help for their performance later on in their careers. I just think it's very exciting for the youngsters and for swimming in South Africa."