Episode 14 British Olympic Dreams

-Here comes Kelly Holmes.

-The crowd are on their feet!

Good footwork, but again, what a start!

Denise Lewis, Olympic champion!

And Rebecca Adlington is bringing it home for Britain!

Great Britain get the gold medal!

Kelly Holmes for Great Britain! What a performance!

Absolutely brilliant. Great Britain takes gold!

The Olympic Flame begins its journey from ancient Olympia to our shores,

to be proudly held aloft by 8,000 torchbearers

before arriving here at London's Olympic Stadium on the 27th July.

In today's show, we'll bring you to the heart of the Olympic Park,

as it throws open its gates for the final few test events ahead of the games.

We'll even be taking you into orbit for the very first time.

So sit back, relax and enjoy the view.

But we'll start right here with an Olympic champion

desperate to defend the gold medal she won so memorably in Beijing. Remember this?

Can Christine Ohuruogu take this Olympic title for Great Britain?

And here comes Christine Ohuruogu. There's a medal up for grabs.

Williams coming through for Jamaica. Williams is coming through!

Richards is trying but Christine Ohuruogu, Christine Ohuruogu takes the gold medal!

The world champion becomes the Olympic champion.

Four years on and things haven't gone exactly according to plan

for the athlete who was brought up

a stone's throw from where I'm standing right now.

We join Christine on a training camp in Los Angeles.

Survey the landscape of Christine Ohuruogu's career and you'll witness beautiful mountain highs and

cavernous valley lows. But even after the dip of an injury plagued 2011,

the previous peaks continue to fuel her belief.

Confidence is something you never lose. You go through bad patches,

but if I didn't have confidence I wouldn't be able

to deal with what I've gone through.

It's not something I've had to consider.

Olympic champion territory comes with the spotlight's glare,

but it's not courted by Christine.

Thus far away LA, not local London to prepare. Heat addition and removal all in one.

People are different, but for me it's best to get away

and and least I'm not being bombarded with distractions all the time.

I'm able to focus on what I need to get done,

which is the most important thing right now.

You are training for the next championship for that season, so that's how we view it.

It's not poetic and theatrical as preparing for four years,

we go on a year-on-year basis

and hope we can build up enough to get us to,

the major championship was the Olympic Games, and hope to get there is in the best possible shape.

There is no secret formula to training.

I leave everything in the capable hands of my coach to plan the next couple of months,

but we are not going to change anything because it's the Olympics.

I've had a good indoors.

That's on the back of a good winter. I've always had a good winter.

It was only last year because I had an injury, so that continued from the year before,

which is why I kind of dropped off a little bit,

but I genuinely have a good winter and what you saw indoors is

not really unusual, just that people don't remember.

I had an indoor season in 2006, running 11-7-3.

I ran 50.2 in the Commonwealth Games to win, so it's not unusual.

It's what I'm running what my body needs to run at this time.

Each medal signifies something special.

I don't like to say any medal is more important,

because everything comes with its own story

and that's kind of made me who I am, made me the athlete I am today.

This is Christine's back yard. I like what she's done with the place.

Imagine what she can do IN the place on 400 metres final night,

not that she's taken to flights of medal fancy.

Every year, you expect it to be tough.

I expect 100-plus girls all wanting the same thing.

From what I've seen it's going to be tough

and there are some really good girls out there.

There might be a few surprises in the regards of who comes through,

but the Olympics is once every four years

and you just never know who is really preparing for it and

who's ready to give it everything, so you kind of fear everyone.

Christine was the one to fear in Beijing four years ago.

Commonwealth champion, world champion, she was the

unstoppable force, the irremovable object and the opposition knew it.

She will never forget it.

The Olympic final is something that you can never quite picture in your head.

You always see yourself getting to the line,

but when it comes to looking and trying to picture what the

race will look like, it's very, very hard to see.

You can't see anything. You don't see finishing or the end.

It was nice to finish and to see the end

and know that I have been successful.

The happiness will never leave you. I can always go back and say this is something that I accomplished

when I was very young and I'm still really proud of what I did.

From an athlete looking to claim a second successive Olympic title,

to a team defending four gold medals here in London.

Britain rule the waves in Qingdao four years ago.

Here's a look at some of the contenders this time around.

'Two gold medals!...'

'This man is unstoppable!'

We turn our attentions to the world of equestrian sport.

Britain has produced 27 Olympic medallists to date in the

three-day event and show jumping,

but no success in the complex sport of dressage.

That could be about to change though.

Leading contender Karl Hester takes us behind the scenes in the Hagen Grand Prix in Germany.

This is Hagen. Every year we have a theme here at the show

which Ulrich Kasselman, the owner of the venue, puts on.

This year, obviously, with London Olympics in mind,

he has chosen Great Britain as his theme

and this is like a mini Olympics with the competitors we've got here.

We are hoping to do well. Dressage is training of the horse.

It's actually obedience, submission,

but without taking away the horse's personality.

What you see at the top level should look very elegant,

it should look like the horse does it on its own

and the rider really just steering the horse, with minimal aids.

It's supposed to be that pleasing and easy to watch.

Someone once said it has to be

the perfect marriage between horse and rider

and that was a great way of describing it,

because you have to love your horse and they have to love you.

Our horses aren't used to going in arenas where you have

crowds of people, so it's important that the horses get used to this.

This year we have only three members due to the change of the rules

in the Olympic sport

and we have fortunately qualified one individual as well.

We have a place qualified, so there will be a battle for that

fourth place to come and compete as an individual.

Over here, we have Mistral Hojris, who is Laura Bechtolsheimer's horse.

Because he is an enormous horse, Laura requested two stables.

She took the partition out so he has a double box all to himself.

Vicky is the team horse physio and she is working on Laura's second horse,

massaging his back and his quarters.

They actually get as well, if not, better looked after than the humans.

He started off working training with my dad and working in our yard

when I was a wee nipper,

so he used to give me quite a lot of grief, which is probably good.

I probably needed putting in my place every now and again.

We worked four years together.

He rode world championships, Europeans and Olympic Games.

He came as a young rider and I think seven months later

he rode world championship, so it was quite amazing.

Dr Bechtolsheimer and his wife, they put so much into the sport

and started somebody like me off

and here I am still able to help try and bring medals home thanks to them.

But how great must it be to have your daughter doing it?

Far better than having somebody like me or another rider,

who's not part of the family.

She used to look at me as a wicked older brother and I used to teach her

and I used to put the jumps up too high and she would fall off and cry.

I used to enjoy terrorising her as a kid really!

I'm lucky enough to actually part-own Charlotte's horse, Valegro.

If I look older than the others, it's the stress and it ages me having to look after them!

Ooh. Slow down.

Charlotte and I have a unique relationship. We have to have to do what we are doing.

When we ride together, I never think about letting her win

and I know she never thinks about letting me win.

Seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve.

The this is picking up a few good marks here.

This is making my heart go real fast. Pretty special!

I'm delighted with that.

Gold. That must be pretty impressive for you?

Yeah. Really happy.

That was a good win, so very happy with Valegro.

18 months ago, Charlotte did her first grand prix

and the horse is just going to be ten years old this year

and that's very young.

We call it the lion's den to come here.

Germany is where dressage is all about.

-London 2012, excited about the prospect?

-Very excited.

Overexcited would be an understatement. We can see it now.

As I said, I've waited 20 years to see something like this happen.

Charlotte, Laura and myself have three horses

that are capable of individual medal honours. That's a battle

and that's fun and that gives you the drive to go and fight to win it.

We need the top-three horses to go and bring home the gold.

Great Britain's hockey players are getting their first taste of

competitive action on the newly-laid and brightly-coloured Olympic pitch.

Now we turn our attention to Great Britain's women's road cycling squad.

They returned from Beijing with two medals and much is expected of them.

While they operate in harmony in the intense heat of competition,

individuals can have their differences and sometimes these even spill out into the public arena.

Ollie Williams tells us more.

Britain is a world-beating cycling nation

with two top women's road race contenders, but only one can win.

I'm Lizzie Armitstead. We are in Maastricht on a training camp

because we are here for the world championships in 2012.

Also, in preparation for the Olympics.

I'm Nicole Cooke and we are here in Lugano in Switzerland

and I'm the Beijing 2008 Olympic road race champion.

It's the biggest and most important year of my career,

simply because of the Olympics.

The fact that they are home Olympics makes it even more important.

I have to keep my training in focus,

so it's 100%, no matter what I've won.

I know that come the Olympics this year, it's almost like starting from scratch.

The Olympic course, I couldn't have asked for anything better in terms of a road race.

Being on the start line in London, wearing the British jersey

will be the highlight of a lifetime anyway.

I'll be there giving it my very best, that's for sure.

Nicole Cooke and Lizzie Armitstead's rivalry came to a head at last year's world championships.

A lot of the nations wanted it to end in a bunch sprint.

Lizzie was caught behind a crash and I did maybe 1.5k to go.

Lizzie got caught about 1k to go, which messed up our plans.

Ultimately, I made the mistake by being too far back.

Too far back in the field and I needed a little bit of extra help,

but I certainly don't blame my result on Nicole.

Lizzie was left alone and had to chase back

and Nicole was already in ideal position

so it didn't go to plan based on the crashes.

I came fourth and we were centimetres away from a podium

and we all could have done so much better.

We have learnt a lot.

I know exactly how it was at the race

and what happened after the race

and I think it got made out to be really bad and as if nobody was talking to each other

and it was really difficult, but it wasn't like that at all.

I think it was a shame perhaps the way it was portrayed in the media.

That was MY mistake.

I said one thing to one journalist and it was blown out of proportion

but I stand by what I said and I think as a result we'll be

stronger as a team for having had the issued aired and not glossed over.

Hopefully come the Olympics we'll be able to get everything right.

Road cycling's a team sport, but only one person can be the winner.

Who deserves that chance?

In the Olympic road race you need a rider that can climb,

because we have some hills in the course.

We need a rider that can sprint

and we need a rider that can have the tactical awareness

to understand what's going on and make the split-second decisions.

My argument to be the leader at the Olympic Games is that

at the moment, I'm the fastest of the British girls.

If it does come down to a sprint, then I think we should ride for me.

and I've had a lot of results.

Results speak louder than anything else.

You're an Olympic champion for your life.

You can be a world champion in your sport,

but then you become an ex-world champion,

whereas no-one can ever take an Olympic gold or an Olympic title from you.

I don't think it is ever possible to feel like you're the best cyclist you can be

because you are constantly striving to improve.

If you rest and think you're the best, you'll never win any races again.

On the day, you pick the strongest rider.

Whoever that is... we can say who it might be now, but come July

the strongest rider will be the lead rider for that course.

We're here for a look inside the first dedicated water polo venue

ever built for an Olympic Games.

The British team have been busy putting it through its paces around the official test event.

Away from the rough and tumble of water polo

but no less competitive, Britain's synchronised swimmers have been busy

preparing to impress the judges on home water

with some help from a man who knows what it takes to score top marks

at an Olympic Games.

There is one of the most prized possessions in sport,

an Olympic gold medal worn with pride by Robin Cousins.

He's brought his experience

and everything from the Olympics to help prepare us for 2012.

Robin has taught us so many new things from skating, to new lifts,

to grasps with our hands.

It's been good to have him on board.

It is an honour to work with an Olympic champion.

We want to be sponges and soak up all the information he can give us.

I had no idea that it would be so similar until I got here,

watched the choreography and the timings

and how they are working.

The response has been fantastic. It really is exciting.

One of the most disciplined teams I've come across.

To work the hours that they work and they don't complain.

They take everything on board. There's no question of it not being a sport.

The sport is in the training and the art is in the execution.

We don't want to see the effort. We want to see it effortlessly.

They have to train ten hours a day and go to the gym.

They are in incredible shape.

We live, breathe and sleep synchro

just to get us to the greatest athletes possible.

The worst one I find is chins,

because you've got to lift your whole body weight

and hold it up there - that's really hard.

With the land drill that helps for us not to do so much in the water.

If we can get it synchronised on land, it will help us

dramatically in the water and we don't have to do so much.

You can do all the training and the work,

but when you march out into that stadium and step up to the plate,

the whole world is on you and you are at home.

I never got to compete in a major championship in my own country.

I have no idea what the pressure would have been like.

The crowd today was fantastic.

Walking out and hearing that roar was a great support

for us to do a great performance.

They are definitely a team of women who work really well together.

A little bit more self belief will allow them

to realise that they are as good as they can be right now.

It's not what we need for an Olympics, but it's good enough on their journey.

Yesterday he surprised us in training in the afternoon

and gave us a team talk and motivated us today.

It's fantastic to have him on board.

Once 2012 is over I will continue to work with the squad

and the team, because it's been a joy, I've loved it.

Hi I'm Leon Taylor, Olympic silver medallist in diving in 2004.

You've all heard of Tom Daley, but My one to watch is Jack Laugher.

17 years old, nine months younger than Tom Daley,

he's already double Junior World Champion on the 3m springboard.

He even made the final at last year's World Championships at Shanghai.

And again here in London at the Olympic test event.

Jack's a fantastic, cool-headed athlete

and a contender for finals in London 2012 and success way beyond.

Now it's time to take you the top of the Orbit, Anish Kapoor's

giant, metal sculpture which is set to become a landmark of the Games.

The tower is just shy of 115 metres, which makes it the tallest sculpture in the UK.

Everyone has to take the lift up

but you have the option of walking 455 steps on the way down.

The artist Anish Kapoor is known for his love of mirrors.

As soon as you are on the top observation deck you are faced

with a huge reflection of yourself before you see these gorgeous

panoramic views of the skyline.

You can see up to 20 miles out.

There's Canary Wharf, the City of London

and then you see the spectacular 80,000-seater Olympic stadium.

Away from the Olympic park to an event which hasn't featured a British competitor

since Sydney 2000.

Women's mountain biking.

Graham Bell picked up few bumps

and bruises keeping up with our number one hope for the Games.

This is Hadleigh Farm in Essex, home to the mountain biking course.

It's full of challenging descents,

technical climbs

and rocky features.

The riders who compete in these games will need stamina, endurance,

and, let's face it, no fear.

With two top ten World Cup performances under her belt

Britain's best chance in the women's event is 21-year-old Annie Last.

The past few years I've progressed in my biking and in results.

I want to be the best athlete and best bike racer I can be.

This season's gone very well.

I got into the top ten for the world Cup.

I didn't go into it expecting to be in that position.

I hadn't gone into it with loads of race fitness.

It gives confidence going forwards for the rest of the season.

I started riding my bike when I was ten, started to do a few races.

I got into it because my brother used to do races in the winter.

I used to get dragged along occasionally when I couldn't be left at home by myself.

I used to ride horses and that's what I enjoyed.

We made an agreement that if I did a race, he'd ride a horse.

I did my first cycle cross race and I really enjoyed it,

even though I didn't think I would.

I always wanted to do medicine.

I did my A-levels with the aim of getting a place at uni.

But I also really enjoyed my cycling.

I didn't know whether I wanted to do both, or to do one.

My friends said you can go to university any time

but if you want to be an athlete you have to do it now.

An easy decision then.

I love what I do, I'm really pleased I made that decision.

I train with the lads quite a lot. It's really good.

They are a lot stronger.

Sometimes it would be nice to be able to train with some girls.

After a bit of them talking about bikes and girls,

you feel like you just need a bit of a break.

Being an athlete is not easy. You have to give up a lot.

I can't go out with my mates as much as I would like.

You can't stay up late all the time.

You've got to have a structured day.

You miss out on quite a lot of things.

But for me it's worth it.

The thought of being able to represent my country in a home Games,

it's a-once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

To be able to just get there

and stand in front of the crowd on the start line is amazing.

I want to do everything I can to be in the best shape

so that I'll be able to do my best and do my country proud.

With the Games fast approaching, Annie's training harder than ever.

Today she's been given a couple of hours on the Olympic course.

As a weekend warrior mountain biker myself I thought

I'd join her and find out how technical this course is.

It's a really tough course.

There are so many different variants - technical and physical.

It's going to be a really good race.

And how you fit everything together, hopefully will suit me.

-There is enough up and down isn't there?

-Definitely.

The more traditional courses went up for a long time.

Then you come back down.

You can see from this course there are loads of short ups

and then into downhills and then back into the next uphill.

-So your heart is through the roof the whole time?

-All the time.

The downhill sections, you get to the bottom of them

and you've worked just as hard as you have on the way up.

-There is so much upper body.

-So you are working the whole way around?

Yeah, no rest around this course.

If I was to have a go, to go down this rock garden, what would I need to be doing?

You have an A and B line. A is harder.

Be nice and relaxed, keep your weight back.

And flowing with your bike, moving it underneath you.

Will you give me demonstration and I will follow you, I promise.

All right.

Nice. I think I might take it down the B line.

HE LAUGHS

Having seen this now, this is way harder than I thought it would be.

I've seen other courses but this one,

because of the rocks and the intimidating look of it,

I think I'll need a little bit longer on it,

or I'd end up coming off and heading towards the local hospital.

Ah!

The uphills are almost as tough as the downhills,

but not quite as dangerous.

What are your expectations for the Games?

-This place is going to be rammed with people isn't it?

-Oh, yes.

Even to get to the Olympic Games is amazing.

It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to have it

in your home country,

so just to get there will be really, really good.

And then, I'm 21 so I'm still a young, developing athlete,

so a medal would be amazing.

It's a tough ask but I'm doing everything I can.

Since we don't get this opportunity very often,

-do you fancy showing me a bit more of the track?

-Yeah, finish the lap.

Just nothing too difficult.

That wraps it up for this edition of British Olympic Dreams.

Head to our website...

..for more information and to keep up with everything that's happening in the world of Olympic sport.

Join us next time

as our athletes take another step closer to the London Olympic Games.

-Bye for now.

-See ya.

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