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Greene questions desire of some GB athletes

Dai Greene does not believe all Team GB athletes match his desire © Getty Images

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World champion 400m hurdler Dai Greene believes his fellow Team GB athletes would do well to adopt his attitude as they target success at London 2012.

Greene, who added the world title to his Commonwealth and European gold medals after a stellar run in Daegu earlier this year, is hoping to add Olympic gold to his haul next summer in London. The Swansea-born athlete has a burning desire to be the very best in his event - but isn't convinced that is the case for other members of Team GB.

The 25-year-old believes some athletes have underachieved in their disciplines, either because they just don't set their sights high enough or because they crumble in the face of pressure and expectation.

"Some athletes have not achieved as much as they should have done," Greene told the Daily Mail. "Some seem overwhelmed by the pressure. A lot of them say, 'It would be nice to get into the final'. No, it wouldn't be nice. You go there to get into the final and if you don't get there, you review why not afterwards.

"It won't be nice to get a bronze medal in London. I don't want a bronze medal. I don't push myself when I'm exhausted to do one more hill run thinking about having a bronze medal round my neck. Nice? No, it's not nice. I want gold.

"Athletes were coming to me after I won at the World Championships and saying, 'Fantastic, fantastic, I can't believe it'. No, I can believe it. This is what I've worked for. It's not a surprise to me."

Greene believes a section of Team GB athletes need to be toughened up - and one way of doing that might be to make the requirements for financial backing a lot stricter.

Greene believes the current system is far from perfect - and even believes he wouldn't be the athlete he is today if he had received funding as soon as he showed some talent.

"I'd set tougher criteria. A lot of youngsters feel they deserve it. But it's not a reward. It's an investment to help get a major medal," he said. "I'm not keen on what people get for the relays, either. You can get the highest level of funding through winning a medal in the relay without being anywhere near world standard individually. It seems wrong.

"When I won a European junior silver medal at 19, I got no money as a result. Some of the 100m sprinters got a lot of attention as juniors. They would have been getting £30-£40,000 from, say, Nike. The money goes on potential but what happens to the potential?

"I would say that I wasn't mature enough as a teenager to deal with a lot of money. If I'd got that then, I'd be nowhere near as good now."

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