Paralympic rower Tom Aggar says he's feeling fitter and stronger than ever before and is "training to win gold".
The reigning Paralympic and World Champion in the single sculls said: "I'm not expecting it to be easy. People will think they can beat me and I've just got to make sure that they don't."
The engaging 27-year-old is one of the Paralympics' brightest hopes for a gold medal and he's working hard to ensure he doesn't let down the legion of friends and family who will be in Eton Dorney in late August to cheer him on.
He said: "It's been the best year I've had in terms of consistent training. The number of days I've missed through illness and injury have been minimal so the preparations are going really well. I'm the fittest and strongest I've been."
He was talking to The Wharf at the London Regatta Centre in Royal Docks, a familiar place and familiar water for the man who played first team rugby for University of Warwick before an unrelated accident changed his life.
He took up rowing in 2006 to boost his strength and represented Royal Docks Rowing Club in his early career.
He said: "I guess this is still my affiliated club. This was the first place where I went on the water and I trained here for about 18 months before I went for the trials for the Paralympic team."
He was back last week as a brand ambassador for Games sponsor EDF which is running the EDF Community Rowing Challenge. Five east London schools were pitching for a place in the final.
It was a rare break away from the training regime.
Tom said: "I guess there's been a real big push since January. The coaches like to make sure we're getting the most of us and you go home each evening with nothing left.
"We're training six days a week, two or three sessions every day. Most of our training is aerobic training so when the weather's rough we're on the machines. Whenever it's not rough we're on the water in the boats either doing long slow stuff or time pieces.
"I'm feeling confident, I'm definitely better placed to win it this year than any other year.
"I guess the mentality is you don't want to get there and have any regrets, you want to get there and know that you've done everything you can and do the best you can.
"If I go to the games and produce a personal best performance or a performance that I know is at my limit then hopefully that will be good enough to win a gold."
As for the whole Olympic bandwagon itself he said: "I think it'll be great to have support from the British public and friends and family. That will be completely different to Beijing where it was just my Mum and Dad.
"Right now you get the sense that something big is looming. You have competitions to concentrate on in the months in between but now the Games is here you have to make every day count."
© First published in The Wharf
