That 56 seconds, it took me to swim that gold medal when I looked for that feeling for 30 years and I never found it.

A podcast about the people behind the medals. On the podium from the BBC World Service, find it wherever you get your BBC podcasts.

Hello and welcome to the documentary in the studio from the BBC World Service, the programme that gets into the minds of some of the most creative people in the world.

And today, I'm on the couple streets of the Royal Mall in Edinburgh in Scotland, which as of tomorrow will be filled with the sound of life theatre, opera, dance and music,

as the Edinburgh International Festival opens its doors in the Scottish capital.

The Festival is one of the oldest and biggest performing art events in the world, more than 150,000 people flock here each year.

And it's featured luminaries such as Sir Ian McKellen, Peanut Bouch, Damon Albarn and Pavarotti.

And this year will feature new music from the Chinese crouching tiger and hidden dragon composer, Tan Dunn.

The Festival also has a brand new artistic director, the award-winning Scottish and Italian violinist, Nicola Benedetti, or Nikki, as she likes to be called.

Nikki regularly performs on the world's most prestigious stages with leading orchestras and has world audiences with her Scottish reels.

And has a Grammy for her recording of Winton Marsalis' Violin Concerto and Fiddle Dance Suite, fusing classical violin, jazz and Celtic folk.

For the past nine months, I've been following Nikki on her new creative journey into homecoming, not only is the first Scott to take up the role as the Edinburgh International Festival director, but as the first woman to do say to.

I think it does feel like quite a responsibility.

I'm going to try to be bold and try to be brave. I have such a kind of drive and focus around what I'm trying to do.

And I won't know, probably until after the first festival, what certain risks and decisions we've made, land well or land less well.

But we'll learn soon.

In this in the studio, we'll be looking back as Nikki puts together the strategy and programme of the 76 Edinburgh International Festival.

So follow me, Anna Bailey, down the raw mile, as we step into the festival creating world of Nicola Benedetti.

Hello, Nikki, lovely to meet you. How are you?

I'm really well. How are you? Thank you very much.

Oh, no, thank you. How's it going in Japan?

It's going well. Thank you very much. I feel well.

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