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I always said I wanted an Olympic medal. It's the pinnacle of any athlete's career.

It's something special to break the world record at the Olympics.

Most other competitions are individual achievements, but the Olympic Games is something that belongs to everybody.

The Olympics are a wonderful metaphor for world cooperation, the kind of international competition that's wholesome and healthy, an interplay between countries that represents the best in all of us.

But I'm after medals more than anything. Championships don't get taken away from you but records do, so I think I'd rather have medals at every championships rather than times. A world record would be a bonus, but I'm still only 25 in 17 days.

Records are there to be broken. Lots of people would love to swap their world record for an Olympic medal, but for me, my medals are there forever and ever, and that's what does it for me.

No one pretends anymore that the Olympics are just about sports. It's routine to talk about what effect holding the Games in this or that capital will have on the host country's international reputation, how a nation's prestige can be raised by its medal count.

The Olympics is about showing what you've done with your life, your dream as an athlete and sharing that with the world.

London 2012 is all about winning a medal. Not just any medal, the gold medal.

An Olympic medal won't define my whole life, although it might look like it to onlookers. When I look back, I should have been able to get an Olympic medal.