Dai Greene set his sights on making it a full set of major titles at
the London Olympics next year after a stylish 400 metres hurdles victory
at the World Championships in Daegu.
The win adds the world title
to the European and Commonwealth crowns the Welshman won last year and
makes him favourite to complete the set on home soil in 2012.
The
former Swansea youth-team footballer, who held his nerve after two
faulty starts, said: "If I'd had a bad season this year it wouldn't have
set me up very well for next year. It's a lot easier during the winter
months to train when you have a gold medal on the mantelpiece."
He
added: "Now I've got three from three from the last championships and I
want to complete the set (at the Olympics) next year."
The
Welshman's victory crowned a memorable evening for the British team,
coming minutes after Hannah England produced a wonderful sprint finish
to win a surprise silver in the 1500m.
Greene added: "We've been
waiting for this gold all week. I saw Hannah England's performance, saw
her running round with the flag and I was like 'I'm going to get a piece
of that action'. I was desperate to come away with the gold.
"I've
had a lot of injures in 2006, '07 and '08 and was really struggling to
make the squads and now look at me – I've totally changed that round.
"I've
worked very hard to get here and that's why I can deal with the
expectations, because I remember being bottom of the pile."
If
Greene's victory had been expected, England's medal-winning run came out
of the blue as she produced a storming finish to make up huge ground
down the home straight, coming home 0.28secs behind winner American
winner Jennifer Barringer-Simpson.
The 24-year-old, who was left
in tears after missing out on selection for the last World Championships
in Berlin two years ago, said: "It was such a weight off my shoulders
making the final because I knew I was capable of that. But honestly I
never thought I was capable of this."
