The contenders: Dai Greene

It says much for the character of Dai Greene that, despite the fact he's making his Olympic debut as one of Team GB's biggest track medal hopes, UK Athletics head coach Charles van Commenee recently chose him to captain the home athletics squad at London 2012.

The former Swansea City youth player has fought injury, epilepsy and even endured a stint flipping burgers in McDonald’s to become European, Commonwealth and eventually world champion over the 400m hurdles. But it's more than determination and dedication to a brutal training regime on the hills around Bath that have so impressed Van Commenee.

The quietly spoken Welshman has coupled his rise in status with a rise in his volume levels – figuratively speaking, at least. His strong views on the presence of drugs cheats at the Olympics have been well documented – and when Sport meets him, not long before he's awarded the aforementioned captaincy, it's clear that they're not views he's wiling to water down. For anyone.

“I didn't know Dwain [Chambers] when he had his indiscretions,“ he explains. “But I do know him now. He's come in for a lot of flak every time he runs and has been isolated in terms of the competitions he can and cannot do, but he still continues to run.

“I have a lot of respect for him for that – but at the same time I still don't think he should be there, the same as the rest of the [former] drugs cheats. I'm happy to say he's a lovely guy, but you can't ease off for one person just because he's a nice guy. You have to have a set standard."

That standard had – until April – been set by the British Olympic Association. Their lifetime Olympic ban on any British athlete caught doping was decried by some as being too harsh, though – and it was ruled as exactly that earlier this year, when the BOA lost their court case with the World Anti-Doping Agency.

“I agree, the same rules should be applied to all athletes,“ says Greene. “But we've lowered our standards to come in line with the rest of the world, whereas the rest of the world should have put theirs higher and come into line with us. That's how I feel."

Greene's views are backed up by many of his fellow Brtish athletes, but not many would apply them so bluntly, and so openly, to one of their own teammates. “I guess it's a case of me being in a privileged position where what I say gets more coverage,“ he says. “I can bring things to the attention that might help our sport, or when I feel like other athletes feel the same as me."

From crock to champ
Greene shoulders the responsibilities that come with his Team GB star status without flinching. Yet just four years ago he could barely complete a season without his body breaking down – something that prevented him from qualifying for the Beijing Games.

“I'd work really hard in training, but I just didn't seem to get any better and had injuries that were holding me back,“ he recalls. “But it was nice to come through that, and it's made me appreciate the good times now. I'm very thankful that I'm fit every day that I am – all I want to do is make the most of it.

“Missing Beijing was a disappointment, sure, and when you're that age you don’t realise that you'll have to wait four years for the next one. It’s been a long time, trust me – and a lot has happened since then.“ Including winning gold in Daegu, an achievement that catapulted him into the nation's consciousness – but not quite into the good books of his coach, the legendary Malcolm Arnold. Now into his eighth decade, Arnold has led athletes to more than 65 major medals over a career spanning 40 years – so welcoming home a world champion was nothing new.

Green smiles: “He said to me: 'You can do things two ways: you can milk being world number one and try to earn money, or you can be the best in the world for the next five years, make even more money and have a successful career at the end of it – the choice is yours.'“ The Welshman made his choice and, as is his wont, he's sticking to it – with high hopes it will deliver the one title missing from his collection.

Sarah Shephard

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