Meadows keeping it real

Meadows: In touch with reality

Jenny Meadows is "not much of a dreamer" but admits she's growing in belief that a gold medal at London 2012 could become a reality.

The 30-year-old rose to prominence at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin when she won a surprise bronze in an 800 metres final dominated by the formidable Caster Semenya and since then she's continued to impress on a regular basis.

Meadows insists it was important to prove her first international medal was no flash in the pan by following it up with podium finishes in each of the next three major championships indoors and out.

These consistent performances have seen her transform from an underdog into a genuine contender for honours, and she's now revelling in this new status having spent so long trying to reach her potential.

The Wigan and District Harrier, who will be among the favourites at this summer's world championships in Daegu said: "The first medal that I won was absolutely amazing and a big, big shock but then you worry it was a bit of a fluke so it was really good to back it up in the last few major events.

"It's such a different psyche going into a major championships knowing that you've done it before. In the past I was just hoping I'd get through the heats, the semi-finals and then hopefully reach the final but everything changes once you've made the podium.

"It's given me the ammunition I need to keep going to every major event and make the podium.

"I really think over the past few years I've zoned in on the right mental technique to make sure I go to major championships and pace myself correctly to get through the rounds and produce my best performance in the final.

"I train so, so hard and strive to be one of the best so you want that status and being regarded by others in the race as the main opposition.

"But sometimes you can handle it better as the underdog because the spotlight isn't on you and you can just do your thing under the radar, which is very much what it was like for me in Berlin.

"Nobody really expected me to do anything except myself and my coach who knew I was in great shape and I took my opportunity. But obviously after winning medals in the last few competitions you all of a sudden become one of the main rivals for everybody else in the field.

"I think I am still in transition of trying to believe I've now got that status. I've been involved in athletics a long, long time and it's probably taken me around 20 years of being in the sport before I did learn how to conquer my nerves and perform as well as I did in those world championships in Berlin in 2009.

One to watch

"Obviously I'm one of the girls to look out for in the race but rather than mentally seeing myself as a gold medal favourite, I more see myself as a potential medallist.

"The next 12 months until London is going to be a really important part of my mental preparation to help me believe that I can contend for an Olympic title.

"I would love to get on that podium again at the world championships because that would further my belief down the path that I achieve something in London.

"A medal in Daegu would ease the nerves a little bit and give me that confidence but it's not fundamental. If I don't get one it doesn't mean my chances are gone in London, and I'll just need to chill out a bit more."

Not a day goes by without Meadows thinking about the prospect of competing at a home Olympics and believes her lasting legacy will be made in London.

"It's the first thing I think about every morning when I wake up, definitely. If I've had a really good training session the night before, I'll wake up and think 'how amazing is this - I'm a British athlete coming into the prime of my career and I've got a home Olympics to look forward to'.

"But on another day, if I've had a really hard training session the night before and am feeling really fatigued, I wake up feeling scared!

"It's the question everybody asks you. If you go into a school all the kids and teachers want to ask about it, the neighbours want to know about it and people in the local village are asking about how my preparations are going.

"You're almost being defined by this one moment in your life because it's so significant. If everything is going well then it's exciting but if the nerves do creep in and preparations aren't going so well then it can be the scariest thing ever.

"I'm just hoping preparations keep going well and I can just embrace it. You can either embrace it and look forward to it or let it take over you and get really stressed up about it. I'm going to try and stay positive and do the former."

Reality check

Despite all the excitement building, she refuses to imagine herself crossing the line in a blaze of glory next summer and is instead has a firm grip on reality.

She said: "I've not thought about myself finishing first but I know a lot of other athletes say that visualisation is the thing that gets them through training sessions.

"I think I'm very logical. I'm not much of a dreamer but more of a realist. I just think that if I work hard I can achieve success. If you allow yourself to dream too much then emotion comes into it so I'm trying to stay in the real world.

"After Daegu I will really focus my attention on London and maybe start visualising but it does seem just that little bit far in the future to start dreaming about it yet."

Meadows accepts she's always had to battle with nerves over the years but doesn't agree with Charles van Commenee's view that it's unprofessional for athletes to suffer from them.

The UK Athletics head coach was recently quoted as saying nerves are a result of not being focused enough but Meadows said: "Charles was probably alluding to me there! I do get really nervous but I see it as a really positive thing. Everybody is human and it's a human reaction to be nervous.

"You put so much time and effort into the performance that you're about to deliver and you obviously want to produce the best you can.

"I think nerves are important in delivering a good performance because it shows you value what you're about to do and you care passionately about the result.

"I guess some people are nervous and that stops them from performing - but it's good if you have the nervous that act as adrenaline that gets you through the race. That's how I like to look at it.

"If I didn't have nerves I'd probably think there's something wrong and I'd be nervous about not being nervous!"