Canada started slowly at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, which frazzled more than a few fretful Canadians.

The reality was, the way the schedule was set up, Canada wasn't going to win many medals during the first week of those Games, anyway.

Six months from today in London, Canada may get off to a more auspicious start. On July 28, the first day of competition at the 2012 Summer Games, Canada's top swimmer, Ryan Cochrane of Victoria, is expected to go for a medal in the 400-metre freestyle.

Cochrane won Canada's only swimming medal in Beijing, a bronze in the 1,500-metres. He'll swim both the 1,500-and the 400-metres in London, as well as one of the relays.

For the swimmers, qualifying for London is simple: swim faster than the FINA 'A' standard and achieve a top-two finish in your event at the Olympic swimming trials in Montreal from March 27-April 1, and you're in.

Triathlete Paula Findlay, winner of five World Championship Series races the last two seasons, has already earned an Olympic berth.

And cyclist Tara Whitten, a three-time world champion, including consecutive world titles in the two-day, multi-discipline omnium, is a lock for a spot, even it hasn't been officially granted yet.

Whitten's dilemma will be deciding whether to compete in the women's team pursuit or the road time trial, in addition to the omnium.

Gaining a berth shouldn't be an issue.

But for athletes across a wide array of sports, the qualification process is more complicated, sometimes arcane, even unavoidably unfair. In a few cases, it may be downright cruel.

For them, the hardest part may be just getting to London.

Crunch time for those with Olympic aspirations is now, basically, and will continue through until June, and a healthy sampling of Edmonton-area athletes are in the mix.

Artistic gymnasts Brandon O'Neill and Jackson Payne are in a dogfight with six or eight others for one solitary spot.

Both were members of Canada's men's team that missed qualifying for London by an agonizing 0.4 of a point at the recent Olympic qualifier.

Instead of a five-man team, Canada will send one male athlete. Gymnastics Canada, still reeling from the team disappointment, has not yet identified the criteria for that one male to qualify, let alone begun the process.

Good luck with that floor exercise. And good luck to the one athlete who makes the grade. Oh, and no pressure.

Rower Geoff Roth competed for Cambridge the past two years in the famous Boat Race against Oxford. Having graduated, Roth is battling for a seat in one of the "small boats" Canada has qualified for the Olympic rowing regatta.

There are 13 hopefuls competing for eight spots in the men's fours, double and pairs. Canadian rowing teams are out to win gold, or at least a medal, so competition is fierce and exacting.

At the moment, the 24-year-old Roth is on the bubble for a spot in the fours boat. Another Edmontonian, Terry McKall, is competing for a seat in the lightweight men's doubles boat.

The rowers leave Tuesday for a 10-day training camp in Sarasota, Fla., where their every move will be monitored and evaluated. How the rowers perform in the weight room, on the ergometer (rowing machine), in competition with each other, and in international competitions all count.

So does how they match up in the boat with their teammates. It's multifactorial, capricious, subjective and unforgiving. In the end, you're either in the boat or you're not.

For 18-year-old, open-water swimmer Nadine Williams of Sherwood Park, there are two or three more opportunities to qualify.

Williams, who swims for the Silver Tide Swim Club in Sherwood Park, is competing in Santos, Brazil, this weekend, hoping to earn a spot in the Olympic qualifier in Sebutal, Portugal, in June. She could earn a berth in the qualifier by way of world cups in either Argentina or Mexico, also.

Canada will take two male and two female open-water swimmers, or at least that's the plan.

She may be a more likely candidate for the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro, but the five-foot-six, 138-pound Williams is a tough competitor who has represented Canada at the FINA world aquatic championships and the open water world championships. It's all about how she swims "on the day," and that's just to qualify.

A cluster of talented Edmontonian swimmers could qualify to compete in London, depending on how they do at trials in Montreal.

Annamay Pierse, the world record holder in the women's 200-metre breaststroke, and sixth in that event at the 2008 Games in Beijing, is counted on to be one of the swim teams' returning veterans.

But Hanna Pierse, one of five swimming Pierse women, also has a shot to join her big sister with an Olympic berth in the 400-metre individual medley.

Distance swimmer Kier Maitland could qualify in the men's 1,500 metres, and Luke Peddie is gunning for a spot on Canada's 4x100-metre freestyle relay team. Richard Funk, a 100-metre breaststroke specialist, has a chance at an Olympic berth, also.

But this is hardly an exhaustive list. Edmontonians could dot the rosters of the men's and women's volleyball teams, which still may qualify for London.

In track and field, the likes of 400-metre runner Carline Muir, long jumper Krysha Bayley and 100-metre hurdler Angela Whyte will, literally, take runs at Olympic berths.

Getting there may be half the fun, in general, but for Olympic athletes, it's everything right now.

jmackinnon@edmontonjournal.com Twitter.com/rjmackinnon