The world and Commonwealth 400m hurdles champion Dai Greene is a happy man. “From an athlete’s point of view, the biggest thing you can do is the Olympics,” the athlete tells HELLO!. The sporting hero was thrust into the public eye following gold medal wins at the European Championships in 2010 and Delhi’s Commonwealth Games the same year then World Championship gold last year. He has now been appointed athletics team captain for London 2012.
Speaking of the support from fans and supporters of Team GB, the Welsh hurdler admits:“It’s great that everybody seems to be getting behind us. When we go into the stadium, having everyone cheer when your name’s announced… that’s going to be a big thing. It’s bound to give any athlete a lift.”Dai was diagnosed with epilepsy as a teenager and made the brave decision to manage it through lifestyle rather than medication:“When I had seizures it tended to be when I had late nights, or was partying and drinking, which obviously is not conducive to my track career. "In some ways I’m very fortunate to have found athletics to take me down the correct route.”Dai is now an ambassador for the charity Young Epilepsy.
The Olympic hopeful has a confident attitude, to no surprise to his family, girlfriend Sian, or legendary coach Malcolm Arnold. “The performance I’m going to give will be the best I can possibly do. Working hard has worked in the past – so hopefully it will end up in a gold medal.” The men’s 400m hurdles starts on 3 August, the men’s 4x400m relay starts on 9 August.