London Olympic hopefuls: Lawrence Okoye

It's been steady progress. I'm actually ahead of schedule in terms of the distances I should be throwing, which is always good, and I've steered clear of any serious injuries, too. I throw about 200-250 times a week, which is a lot, but I've been told you can't call yourself a proper discus thrower until you've thrown at least 10,000, so I'm getting there. But I've only been full time for a year so what I've achieved is seen as unusual. I'm a world record holder, I've thrown further than any teenager ever has, I won the European [Under-23] championships and I broke the British record. But I've still got a lot to learn before the Games. I study the techniques of different throwers and try to analyse what they do in the circle. If you're not a thrower you may not notice, but the tiniest things can make the world of difference. I particularly admire German throwers like Jürgen Schult [the world record holder since 1986] and [current world champion] Robert Harting. I watch a lot of him on YouTube and focus on everything he does. Saying that, I think the Brits have really raised their game and if we can get our consistency right, we'll be up there in 2012. I believe I can be the best, and so does my coach, but it's still early days and I'll have my peaks and troughs between now and next summer. Key statistics 2010 Year Okoye won first gold medals – at UK under-20 championships and English schools championships Sixth Position achieved at world junior championships, in New Brunswick, Canada 67.63m National discus record, achieved in July 2011 and after Okoye beat his personal best throw by 4m 6ft 6in/21st 8lbs Height and weight Biography Born 6 October 1991, Croydon Educated Whitgift School, Croydon. Deferred place to read law at Oxford until after London 2012 Hobbies Going out with friends, relaxing at home and playing sport Favourite film The Godfather Favourite musician 50 Cent Training I train for six hours every day and spend three days in the gym and four days on the track and have a distance target for each week. I try to do a wide range of sports, such as sprinting and long jump, alongside throwing to keep training interesting. In the gym I do a lot of weights and dedicate a lot of that time to bench-pressing Olympic countdown July 2011 Wins gold medal at European Under-23 Championships with throw of 60.70m Ostrava, Czech Republic 22-24 June 2012 Aviva 2012 trials, Alexander Stadium, Birmingham 2 July Selection is finalised for Great Britain's Olympic team 27 July Start of Olympics, Olympic Stadium, Stratford, London 6 August Start of qualifying for men's discus Olympic Stadium, Stratford, London 7 August Final of men's discus, Olympic Stadium, Stratford, London Lawrence is an ambassador of London's bid to host the 2017 IAAF World Championships. Visit www.london2017athletics.com