Nathan Robertson

"In the mixed doubles Jenny [Wallwork] and I got into the world's top 10 earlier this year and will be top seeds at the Commonwealth Games. We've been doing some team bonding at Center Parcs and, if we perform to our best, it should be good enough. "We're an improving pair who only got together in 2008 so, if we can keep stepping up a level in every competition, then we're capable of challenging the top pairs in the world. Once you get into the top 10 you play the best more frequently. "When I play in the men's doubles with Anthony Clark, we're both 33 and have the experience and the quality and our main concern is to stay injury free. With Jenny, the challenge is very different – she's 23 and improving all the time. I had a lot of success with Gail [Emms] and when she retired [after the 2008 Olympics] I took on a new challenge with a young player who isn't at the same level. My job is to use my experience to build her up so we can become as good a partnership. "China are by far the dominant nation in badminton and have huge numbers of players. But it isn't impossible to win an Olympic medal; we've shown that in the past [with silver in 2004]. We can't compete with them overall but can certainly nip in and get a medal. It is about continuing to improve and performing when it matters." Key statistics Mixed doubles major honours (all with Gail Emms) Olympic silver 2004, world champion and Commonwealth Games gold 2006 Olympic record Athens 2004 silver; Beijing 2008 QF 2009 world rank 34th (with Wallwork) 2010 world rank 11th (with Wallwork) World rankings 1 Widanto/Natsir 2 Gunawan/Marissa 3 Mateusiak/Zieba 4 Laybourn/Rytter Juhl 5 Jiaming/Yawen Main rivals for 2012 Too early to tell. Any of the world's top 10. Even the world No1 pair lost in the last eight at last month's world championship Biography Born 30 May 1977 in Nottingham Educated Dayncourt comprehensive; full‑time badminton player since age of 16 Favourite film Scarface or Anchorman Favourite book Andre Agassi's autobiography, Open. He was one of my sporting heroes growing up and learning the back story behind what you saw out on court was the best thing about the book Favourite band I don't have one, I'm more into R&B Outside badminton I ... play golf and spend time with my 12-year-old daughter; and I'm into online scrabble What would you have done if badminton hadn't worked out? It would have had to be something else within sport. Become a Formula One driver? Training "We don't have an off- and on‑season – it's a 12-month period where we work towards major events. We'll have a training block of eight to 12 weeks beforehand, split into three sections where we start with heavy weights, then strength building and by the time we're close to the event it's about speed. We also do long, hard sessions on the court." Olympic countdown 26-31 Oct 2010 Super Series – Denmark Open Odense, Denmark 2-7 Nov 2010 Super Series – French Open Paris, France 18-23 Jan 2011 Super Series – Malaysia Open KL, Malaysia 8-13 Mar 2011 All England Premier Super Series 2011 Birmingham, England 22-29 May 2011 Sudirman Cup Qing Dao, China 21-26 Jun 2011 Super Series – Indonesia Open Jakarta, Indonesia 8-14 Aug 2011 World Championship London, England Jan 2012 onwards Schedule still to be confirmed In numbers 2 Medals Great Britain has won in Olympic competition since badminton's entrance in 1992 8 Badminton medals China won at Beijing 2008 – more than the next three nations in the table combined 206 Official badminton smash world record, in miles per hour, recorded by doubles player Fu Haifeng in 2005 Center Parcs is the official partner of Badminton England. Visit www.centerparcs.co.uk