Episode 12 British Olympic Dreams

Here comes Kelly Holmes, the crowd on their feet.

Good footwork by DeGale. What a start!

-Denise Lewis, Olympic champion.

-And Rebecca Adlington is bringing it home for Britain.

Britain get the gold medal!

-Yes! Yes, yes!

-Kelly Holmes for Great Britain - what a performance!

James DeGale is the Olympic champion!

You are absolutely brilliant!

This is where Great Britain takes gold.

The waterways of London.

Once a vital resource running through the heart of the capital,

the River Thames and its surrounding network of canals

played a crucial role in the development of the host city as we know it today.

And it's on water here in London this summer

that many of Great Britain's gold medal hopes lie.

Olympic champions ready to defend titles.

Rebecca Adlington - two gold medals!

Others determined to claim the ultimate prize.

In less than 150 days, the world's elite athletes will descend

in a bid to stop Britain's best.

Oh! Yes, he has! That is unbelievable!

But, on home shores, a nation expects.

And on this edition of British Olympic Dreams, we bring you

one remarkable comeback,

three world-beaters,

and a reluctant solo artist.

But first to Tom Daley,

the high-diving star who first shot to fame in 2008,

when he was selected for the Beijing Olympics at the tender age of 14.

Since then, his celebrity has risen, alongside his sporting prowess,

leading to criticism from within the GB camp

over his commitments away from the sport.

Tom's long-time friend and mentor Leon Taylor

was at diving's Olympic test event,

in what proved to be a tough week for the teenager.

What do most 17-year-olds worry about?

Exams, what they're going to wear, hanging out with mates?

Just imagine how you'd feel if the whole nation expected you

to win an Olympic gold medal,

and you had to do it from up there.

YES! Come on, Tom.

What a dive!

What a dive!

What a dive!

Tom Daley, World Championship medallist.

I was asked to go over to the diving pool

and watch this kid who everyone was thinking was quite good.

So I went over, sat down, watched for about 15 minutes,

and, afterwards, turned round to all the assembled coaches and said,

"That boy will never make a diver."

Oops!

It was obvious that there was a talent there,

that was going to be worth working with,

and that's what we've done for the last ten years now.

I've known Tom since he was ten years old and, even back then,

I was amazed at how wise above his years he seemed.

Since then, he's managed to cope with all the challenges thrown his way in and outside of the pool,

even missing out on the medals at the 2011 World Championships,

and finishing a disappointing seventh here,

with my old diving partner Peter Waterfield at the Olympic test event.

People are putting lots of pressure on me, and things like that,

but to be honest, I don't really see it as pressure,

because I can only go to the Olympics, try my best,

and do the best that I can do.

And if I don't dive very well,

it should only be me that gets disappointed, because it's not anyone else's performance.

So I'm just going to go out there, give it my best shot and hopefully I'll do well.

But that hasn't stopped the critics.

Unhelpful newspaper headlines has caused some disruption behind the scenes.

Britain's performance director Alexei Evangulov has criticised

Tom Daley's media commitments,

saying he's endangering his chance of an Olympic gold.

Alexei Evangulov has warned that Tom Daley's career could be in danger

of mirroring that of the retired tennis pin-up Anna Kournikova.

He's criticised Daley for spending too much time on media commitments.

But it's a claim rejected by the diver.

Anna Kournikova is my favourite tennis player and I adore her.

We actually already put a new strategic plan

for the last few months, prior to the Olympic Games,

and we are moving forward.

Now, we are on the track with Thomas Daley.

We didn't dive badly and miss that dive because of

anything to do with him doing media, or his sponsors' stuff.

It's all to do with us not being prepared.

We've had a few injuries over Christmas and in January,

that have stopped us training together and training ourselves.

So, you can't expect us to then come here, at a world event,

and get medals.

We tried. We could have been up there, but we just missed one dive.

With that preparation, hopefully we won't in six months' time.

Everybody knows who Tom Daley is now. Everybody wants a piece of him,

and we're trying to make sure that, yes, it's important for him,

that he does a little bit of media work and sponsorship work,

because that's how he'll earn his living,

but it's also important that we do absolutely everything we can do to get him on the rostrum.

For an elite athlete, the downtime is as important as the training itself.

Without downtime, your head's likely to explode under all the expectation.

It seems funny to me to imagine the Chinese diving team producing a pop video on the beach.

MUSIC: "Sexy And I Know It" by LMFAO

Pretty good to be able to have fun with your teammates

and not take yourself too seriously, and kind of just have fun.

That's the thing. When you go way to training camps, although it is a lot of hard work,

lots of training, we still do have fun.

If he's going to be the poster boy for London, he's a definite gold medal.

There is no such thing as a definite gold medal, I don't think,

particularly in the sport of diving.

We've sat down with the agent, with Tom and his family, with the sport management, and we've said,

"Right. This is where we're at, this is where we think we should be going.

"Let's all agree a game plan."

That game plan is now agreed

and I think it's the best possible build-up to London we could hope for.

I'm really enjoying the build-up so far. It's been an experience.

I think London 2012 is the first Olympics where I know what it's all going to be like,

and it's just a matter of going in there and trying to do my best.

Since Tom Daley won the World Championships in 2009, aged only 15,

he's grown 15 centimetres and put on about 20 kilos in lean muscle mass.

He's also increased the degree of difficulty in four of his six dives.

And Tom's also got a new synchronised diving partner in Peter Waterfield,

and sometimes it takes a little bit of time to get it just right.

And if I know Tom the way that I do,

he'll take this all in his stride and come back even stronger.

It's a new world record!

Two gold medals!

This man is unstoppable.

Now for a quick look at one of Britain's finest athletes,

and a key medal hope for 2012.

He's already a world champion

in the technically complex and physically demanding men's 400 metre hurdles.

Time to find out a bit more about Dai Greene.

The Olympic triathlon is one event

which promises to show off London's most iconic sites to the whole world.

And Britain will be looking to show off a trio of world champions on the starting line, too.

The Brownlee brothers and Helen Jenkins are happy to share training camp experiences

but when it comes to the actual race, they like to play their cards close to their chest,

as Olly Williams discovered when he joined them in Lanzarote.

If you were gambling, these would be the people to put money on at London 2012.

Sat at this table are triathlon's world number one woman,

the world number one man,

and his younger brother, the world's number two man.

He is the ace in the pack - Alistair Brownlee, 23 years old,

world and European champion, with an astonishing record.

-COMMENTATOR:

-Alistair Brownlee crosses the line,

to celebrate victory in the men's competition for Great Britain.

Alistair's won over 50% of the World Champ series.

Every race - he's won over 50%. You think, "That is amazing."

That's such an achievement.

-Close to a perfect year?

-Very close. You can't have a perfect year.

I raced 11 times, and I won nine of them.

I don't think I've been on the line, looked across and thought, "I can beat Alistair."

I'm not racing for second, I'm racing to win. But at the same time,

I know that when Alistair is on top form, he will beat me.

'Alistair Brownlee!'

Are you the best triathlete in the world?

I like to think so every so often,

but triathlon's one of those sports that encompasses so many disciplines

that I don't really worry about it too much.

I'm happy doing what I do and winning what I can.

We take it for granted that triathlon is just something you do. Completing it is not an achievement.

For some people, completing it is a fantastic achievement.

These are no ordinary triathletes.

They proved it on the Olympic course last August.

Alistair and Helen both won gold in Hyde Park with Jonny on the podium.

They gave huge crowds a taste of how Britain might dominate the home Games.

It was pretty incredible, Hyde Park.

I have not experienced support like that in a race before.

It has been getting bigger over the past few years,

but considering we raced at 8.30am, there was a lot of people on the course.

Even at the furthest points of the course, people shouting.

I remember being in the swim, actually, maybe... Towards the end of the swim,

round the back of the pontoon, as far as you could see, there were people four abreast coming to watch,

and I thought, "That's pretty amazing."

I thought, "Maybe there is something in this home-crowd malarkey."

It was a massive advantage that we have done well on that course. It is important to keep on winning races.

Some people are beaten before they even start. They turn up, see us and think, "Oh, no, they're here."

In that Hyde Park race, the rain lashed it down -

and that really could be a taste of what's coming up this summer.

You certainly wouldn't catch anyone playing a lazy card game like this

outdoors in winter in Britain.

These card sharks are somewhere a bit more exotic.

We're on the island of Lanzarote, in the Canary Islands.

This is the greenest part of the whole island and it's not very green.

This bit's more normal but there's bits that are just volcanic rock -

just black rock everywhere. You can't see anything else.

We are used to the Yorkshire Moors. Coming here, it's beautiful in its own way -

it's got beautiful rock formations -

-but volcanic rock gets a bit boring after a while.

-I wouldn't want to live here. Two weeks is enough!

'I love coming back here to Lanzarote to train.'

I didn't expect, at the start of last year, when we were here training,

to be coming back as world champion.

At nearly 28, Helen Jenkins is older than the Brownlees.

She's already been to an Olympics as a world champion - in Beijing, four years ago -

and seen things go wrong.

From Alistair, in 2008, coming 12th at the Olympics,

to winning every race in 2009,

I haven't had that explosion onto the scene.

I've been around a bit longer. I'm probably a bit more under the radar.

I'm not after the media spotlight. I love doing triathlon - I want to do well. I want to win.

Day after day, you do your training -

that's what's going to make you ready for gold, not reading the papers.

And training is now a problem for Alistair Brownlee.

After he left this training camp, he tore his Achilles tendon.

Right now, he's injured. He says he is confident he will be back well ahead of the Games,

but even before the injury, he knew that could be the one thing that stops him.

-Do you worry about injury?

-I'm not too much of a worrier, I don't think,

compared to some athletes, but it is a big worry,

if I think of the things that could go wrong -

injury's probably the big one. Fitness and confidence has a lot to do with it.

If you have got that confidence, you can deal with almost everything.

All you can ask is that you're on the form of your life on that day

and can go out, have a bit of luck and give it your all.

-Three fives. Unlucky!

-I knew that was a five.

So you know his poker face, then? It doesn't work.

Alistair now has even more to smile about.

He's back from injury and was first over the finish line, along with his brother Jonny,

in the Blenheim Triathlon.

Hopefully, that'll be the end of his injury worries in the build-up to his Olympic campaign.

One of Britain's most high-profile female footballers has also had a training setback

as Team GB's girls prepared to make their Olympic debut in the sport.

Kelly Smith has been left high and dry after the suspension of America's Women's Professional Soccer League.

But she has tackled moments of adversity before, as Jess discovers.

Packing up bits in your house to rent it out for the six months out

I was going to be away

and then your life's turned upside down

because my contract was suspended.

It was like, "What am I doing now?" Because for that year I was set,

I was going to move, and my life was going to be in America for six months.

It was a total shock.

This is the second time it has happened to me. I played in the professional league before.

I hope it will be up and running next year but I am not holding my breath.

The big thing this year is thinking about the upcoming events happening in the summer.

That is a big motivation, although I'm not playing club football at the minute.

But excuse me if I make noises.

It's not ideal that I don't have a club,

but there is so much focus, long term, to push me in the gym here,

and running outside and doing my own workouts.

By myself or with...

I've been training with Arsenal at the minute to keep ticking over.

Now that we've got the women's Super League,

it is an option for you to stay in England and play professional football?

Definitely. One of the reasons that I left was because the league was too easy

and not challenging. But I am glad they have changed it. I am ecstatic.

It is now more elite, more challenging.

It is definitely an option to come back and play in England.

Kelly's been through some tough times over the years and in 2003,

a serious knee injury threatened to push her over the edge.

I abused alcohol a lot during those injury...

years, shall I say, that I had.

I hit some very low points and was in a really bad way.

I sought help through attending the Priory

and also the Sporting Chance clinic that Tony Adams set up.

I got a lot of help from that.

That was part of my career that was a low point, that I am not proud of,

but it had to happen, in order for me to be the person that I am today,

and where I am at in my life, at this moment.

In all the years I have been playing, I only have one medal internationally.

It is not a lot, so I need to get to the Olympics first.

I will try to be part of the squad, which I'll strive to do everything I possibly can

but obviously the goal is to win gold.

We have never had that opportunity to play in the Olympics,

whereas Germany, the USA, Sweden, Japan, that is one of their main tournaments.

It is a mouth-watering prospect,

thinking that you could play on the biggest stage in the world.

It is quite tasty.

Now to an athlete enjoying a far better return from his move to

the USA.

Basketball superstar Luol Deng,

who will be hoping to do his business in that building this summer.

Having had the honour of becoming the first British player to appear

in the NBA all-star game, he is not a man who has forgotten his roots.

Leon Mann found him in a relaxed mood.

I didn't think you were going to show up. On my head.

Welcome home, and when I say home, this really is your home.

-Yes.

-You have a good story about this door?

Yeah. I used to try to go everywhere.

My whole day was trying to play basketball

and I would come here and try to sneak in.

We would open this door right here.

It had a low thing to it. If you knew how to do it, you knew how to get in.

We used to get in and use the court,

and when the security guards came, we would run out and run back in.

We did that in a lot of places - we went to Brixton, all the way to east London,

just to find a court to play.

Wherever we could play we used to go.

When people say you're opening doors for the next generation,

you literally are?

I'm trying to do things that I did not have.

This camp - there was no stay-over camp when I was growing up.

Kids playing for free on a day like this,

doing clinics where they play free - I didn't have all of that.

-You can feel the buzz here, but what about the NBA?

-It is the Olympics.

It doesn't matter what league you're playing in.

All that goes out of the window when it comes to the Olympics.

Everyone is excited. For me, it is extra that it is here in London.

-We're going up there.

-Here?

-Yeah.

-Let's go.

WHISTLE

Oh, yes!

'I was telling those kids I feel like things are going to change,

'basketball is going to change, after the Olympics.

'It is a special time for all of us,

'and we will all take it seriously, we will do whatever it takes.'

It is the Olympics, but we're playing for a lot more,

we're trying to change how the game is viewed in the UK,

and trying to get respect from everyone.

For us it's bigger than just the Olympics.

WHISTLE

LAUGHTER

-I have got these shoes on.

-Make excuses all day!

Oh!

Would you be staying in an Olympic village?

I think you got to experience that.

You got to do that.

Every day when I'm playing with the Bulls we stay in a hotel,

so come the Olympics to stay in a regular hotel, you could do that throughout your career.

There is only one time in your home town

you get to stay in the Olympic village and experience it.

I head you stay in the Olympic village, you have room mates,

and I do not really want them, but if that is what I have to do

to stay in the village, then I don't mind it.

WHISTLE

-Oh!

-We have a winner!

Anyone ready to write off Sir Chris Hoy's chances of adding

to his gold medal tally this summer need only look at his dominant

display of sprinting in the Olympic Velodrome test event.

But as fellow track cycling champion Chris Boardman now reveals,

the Real McCoy has a young pretender hot on his heels.

My one to watch is Jason Kenny.

He may just be 23 years of age,

but he has some serious hardware to his name.

In 2006 he bagged himself multiple European and World junior titles.

His big break came in 2008, where he forced his way, ahead of Ross Edgar, into the Olympic team.

He went on to get a gold medal in the Team Sprint event

and took silver behind countryman Sir Chris Hoy.

His biggest obstacle for 2012 will be finding his way past his countryman

because getting his nose in front of Sir Chris Hoy is probably the only way

he can get an Olympic gold medal.

Here on British Olympic Dreams, we pride ourselves on bringing you

the stories of athletes battling against the odds to realise their dream.

But few can match what showjumping's Tim Stockdale has been through.

Despite breaking his neck at the end of 2011, he is refusing to

give up on his quest to ride in the Olympics this summer.

I have been riding since the age of seven,

so that's nearly 40 years - most of my life.

Showjumping is my life.

It's one of those sports that's very gladiatorial.

It has that Neanderthal Man feel about it - raw competition.

It's also a sport that's very dangerous and you're always on the edge of something going wrong.

'What do you recall?'

'Luckily, I do not recall much of the accident.

'I was trying horses and it was a little bit windy'

and rain was starting to come and whether something spooked him,

I don't know but he jolted out of the corner,

he ran out of the corner.

My saddle had not been tightened and it slipped off the wrong side,

so I was coming down.

I don't remember anything more.

And lower it nice and slowly.

'Shrewsbury Hospital was our first port of call.'

The doctor there examined me and felt my neck.

As he felt my neck, I realised I was in trouble.

I've broken a few bones in my time, but I knew...

As he gently pressed around, I knew there was something serious on my neck.

In Mr Stockdale's case,

you've got vertebrae number four, five, is broken.

And number six - this area has been broken completely.

Fortunately it did not affect the spinal cord,

so that is why Mr Stockdale, now, has full neurological function.

-What's he like as a patient?

-A nightmare.

He doesn't understand "keep still", but he is getting there, aren't you?

-Just about.

-Just about.

What would it mean for you to get that place and go to the Olympics?

From where I'm sat at the moment, it would be extraordinary.

'It's lovely to be out of hospital.

'Five weeks on my back was quite a difficult time.'

I feel great now, I have been out for two-and-a-half weeks,

and it is great to be among other riders.

A little bit frustrating, but it's nice to be here.

I've been using these pulleys since 15th January

when I got the collar taken off.

It has made a massive difference.

I can even do my shirts now,

so that's really good. It feels great.

It's been very beneficial.

A few little nerves?

Yes. It is unusual to have been out of the saddle for this long,

since the age of seven.

Now I am going to jump some fences, so, er... Yeah, a big day.

I am a little bit nervous, but I am trying not to show it.

I am pleased that he is riding again - it is all he wants to do.

I am pleased.

Here we go. Now.

Back's slightly sore when I land. Not the neck, but the base of my spine.

But the feeling is great. It is superb.

It has been like climbing a mountain already - and I still have a massive one to climb -

but, at the moment, I feel elated.

Today has been everything I wanted it to be.

A few months ago, I would never have thought I would be here. It is great.

When you've done one Olympic Games it's the pinnacle of any athlete's career.

Nick Hope reporting there. Good luck to Tim Stockdale on his road to recovery.

That is almost it for this edition of British Olympic Dreams.

Just enough time to give you a sneak preview

of what we're planning for the next episode.

'I do not think I am back to my best yet,

'but if I can get into the Games, hopefully by the summer I can get to that level.'

The main thing was saving my career and keeping myself in the sport,

keeping the enjoyment, the motivation and the hunger,

but I can't forget that I've had success in the past.

If you've been there once, there's no reason why you can't do it again.

You just have to find the right recipe.

-It has been lovely out here on the water.

-Yeah, pretty good.

We will be back on dry land next time,

but as we say goodbye from what's set to become an iconic sporting venue,

we leave you with an iconic sporting tune, courtesy of the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra.

-Bye.

-See you.

MUSIC: "Theme From Chariots Of Fire" by Vangelis