Croydon’s Martyn Rooney is preparing to start his Rio Olympics campaign later today.
Rooney will be competing in his third Olympics — having raced in both Beijing and London — at 1:30am GMT.
The Croydon Harriers memer is hoping he can combine his experience and knowledge from previous events to help finally secure a medal position.
“I’m probably in the best shape I have ever been now. This time I’m just ready to run fast, so it’s going to be exciting,” Rooney said.
“In Beijing, I was young, nervous and just riding the waves.
“With London I was nervous and bricking it.
“I think Rio is going to be the best for me,” he added.
The reigning European Champion first developed his passion for athletics while at primary school.
His competitive career took off in 2006 at the World Juniors in Beijing where he came away with a bronze medal.
After two years, Rooney returned to Beijing for the Olympics after being chosen to represent Great Britain in the 400m, where he reached the final finishing in sixth place.
The 29-year-old said: “Beijing was an incredible experience for me.
“I was 21 at the time and it was very new to me.”
Unfortunately he was unable to replicate the same success at London 2012, only reaching the semi finals.
“London was completely different altogether, it was horrible. There was no way I was going to pull out of my home Olympic Games,” the British sprinter said.
“It was a tough experience going into a home Olympics with the crowd on my side, expectations of the fans and knowing that I wasn’t going to be able to deliver at the level I should.”
Rooney kept hold of his European title in the men’s 400m and 4x400m replay earlier this summer when competing in Holland and hopes to continue his success in Rio.
He said: “I’m surrounded by champions so I have completely different interpretations into what world class really looks like, so I finally think I’m world class.
“I want to go there and compete well but it’s a very tough event and I think I’m just going to do the best I can.”
