Lightness of being is unbearable according to the reknowned Czech writer Milan Kundra, but for the 50km reigning Olympic race-walking champion Alex Schwazer, it freed him from the heavy burden of huge public expectation and helped resurrect his career.

A new way of perceving life, sport, fatigue, heavy training regimen, is revigorating the 27-year-old Italian in his preparation for the London Olympic Games where he is aiming a double success in both 20km and 50km race-walking events.

If he succeeds, he would be the second race-walker in history to achieve the feat. Robert Korzeniowski of Poland is the first when he won a double in the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

One year ago, Schwazer went through a deep crisis that brought him to the brink of retirement.

"After I won the gold in Beijing, the public pinned heavy expectation on me, and the race was no more fun for me," he said.

"At the 2010 European Athletics Championships in Barcelona, I felt rather sad after I finished second in the 20km race. When I retired in the 50km event, I decided that that would be my last race ever," said Schwazer.

He then spent almost one year mulling over retirement, until he began to relish training and racing again. He knew he needed a person who could help him break free from the shackle of public expectation. He found the person in Michele Didoni, the 1995 world champion in the 20km race.

"So I went back to Michele Didoni, I knew he could be the right person to work with and to help me change mentally," he said.

Their relationship was not good at the start as Didoni tried to introduce a new training philosophy.

"It was hard at start as Alex had some training concepts very difficult to do away with. I advised him to train not as hard as before, as if he only would compete in the 20km race," Didoni said.

"We made some important changes. I convinced him to train for shorter distance so that he could enjoy what he was doing, and we also kept the technical talk just during training, not 24/7 as he did before," said the coach.

The lighter training helped take the pressure off Schwazer, and after a few months he was back to his usual training amount --200 to 230 kilometers a week.

"I believe Alex found a great group to work with, and our professional experience helped him most," said Didoni. "I became the world champion when I was 21 years old, and so I was able to draw on my own experience to help him."

Schwazer regained competitive edge under the guidance of Didoni. In a test in March, he clocked one hour and 17.30 minutes in the 20km and 3:40.58 in the 50km, inspiring results that made him a hopeful for a double in the London Olympic Games.

"I am a 50km race-walker and that I want to do my best in that race. I will compete in the 20km and if someone speeds up the pace, I will keep my own instead of following them for the whole time. Then we'll see if I have the chance to win a medal," he said.

"People have always been holding great expectations on me since I was a teenager. Now I feel that the most important is to enjoy what I am doing. I had no freedom for some years and now I fought to get it back. I have my own liberty and I will just do what I like," he added.

Schwazer is now training in Obersdorf, Germany with his fiancee, Carolina Kostner, the reigning figure skating world and European champion. He could train there pressure-free, according to Didoni.

"After Obersdorf, Alex will be at top form and the prospect to win two gold medals in London is not utopia," he said.