How to win Olympic gold

By Tom Fordyce

For Britain's Olympic hopefuls, the clock is ticking. The trials of Athens are now less than six months away.

History's greatest haul: Redgrave shows off his five Olympic golds

Luckily, help is at hand - in the hulking shape of Britain's greatest ever Olympian, Sir Steve Redgrave. If anyone knows what you need to win an Olympic gold medal, it's a man who has five of them.

Redgrave is mentoring six British athletes - including 400m man Daniel Caines, cyclist Nicole Cooke and triathlete Leandra Cave - as part of the Team Visa programme.

"Time goes very quickly from this point onwards," says Redgrave. "You cannot afford to make mistakes."

Better listen hard, then....

BELIEVE IN YOURSELF

"When your training is very intensive and you are physically shattered, you pray for a cold or something that would give you a few days off," says Redgrave.

"But as soon as you do get injured or ill, you're chomping at the bit to get back at it. And that can mean that you come back from injury too quick.

"It comes down to you trying to kid yourself that what you're doing in training is better than what your rivals are doing. So while you're thinking about your rivals are doing, you try to have faith in your own programme."

DON'T FEAR THE PAIN

"People always ask me about the Olympic final in Sydney, and whether that was the worst pain I'd ever experienced. But you are geared up for it.

"All your preparations are to get you ready for that moment. It's the same in training.

"If it was just one training session where you felt pain, you would notice it much more. But because it's day in, day out, for seven days a week, 49 weeks a year, it's just what you have to go through."

GIVE YOURSELF TARGETS

"From the outside it always looks like you're aiming for the Olympics and nothing else.

"At the back of your mind you know it's all about the Games, but there is always something in the short term that you have to focused - and it is those little goals that help you achieve the bigger aim."

DON'T GET PARANOID

"You can only control the controllables. You can't affect the weather conditions, or how fit your rivals are, so don't worry about those things.

"You're only in control of what you can do, so concentrate on your own preparations. That's the positive way of looking at things. Otherwise you'll worry yourself to death."

EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED

"Things can change under pressure. You need the foresight and visualisation to be able to cope with any situation that might happen.

Listen, for this man knows what he's talking about...

"If you've gone through all the possibilities in your mind beforehand, you are much more likely to be able to handle them if they occur in the big race.

"In Atlanta, Matthew Pinsent and I were going to make our move in the third 500m, but we tore off the start.

"That's where covering tactics come in to play. We had worked out what might happen and so we had tactics for every eventuality.

"We kept it at the pace we were going, held something back for the final 350m and then began our push to the finish from there.

"One thing I always told the rest of the guys on the start line was, 'Expect the unexpected'. You don't want to cross the line in second place or worse because something took you by surprise.

"If you do lose, you want it to be after putting in the best possible performance."

CONCENTRATE LIKE CRAZY

"Because the Olympics are seen as so much bigger than any world championships, your rivals' standards always improve, because of the amount of work that goes towards it. Even if you've been an athlete for a while, the Olympics always makes you lift your game.

"You have to be very single-minded. Each training session has to be geared up to making it the best, because time is running out.

"You have to commit yourself completely."