We really need a couple of the other young Jamaican quarter-milers to step up between now and the trials at the end of June
? Introducing the Guardian's Olympic diarists
Every day now I'm down at the Racers Track Club here in Jamaica, training. And every day I see my man Usain Bolt, and I always tell him: 'You promised to give us a leg in the 4x4, don't forget it, Usain.' Like all of us at Racers, Usain is training real hard right now, he is in a good place and his mindset is that he is going to run the 4x400m with us at the Olympics. I just hope he doesn't change his mind on that, which is why I keep reminding him of it. The thing is, Usain is only going to want to run the 4x400m if he knows he is going to be competing for that gold medal, so he can go for four golds in one Games.
For Usain to know that is possible, we really need a couple of the other young Jamaican quarter-milers to step up between now and the trials at the end of June. That's our challenge. We need to have at least one more person running 400m under 45 seconds. There are a couple of guys around who can do that. Ricardo Chambers is coming back from injury this year, and we also have Dwight Mullings, who is the younger brother of the 100m sprinter Steve. Both of those guys have broken 45sec before. It is time for them to come out and perform.
I'll start running competitive 4x400m relays around the end of February, and solo 400m a little later on in the year. In between my training sessions I've been studying a few tapes of Kirani James, the 19-year-old from Grenada who won gold at the world championships last year. He's young, so we're still learning about him and how he runs.
I think everybody has a weak spot, you just have to try and figure it out and try to hit them there hard. The way I see it James is someone who sits back and waits in the last 100m. If you could run a really aggressive first 300m and get out in front of him, then hold on to that lead, you can beat him. That's what I am looking to do. So right now I'm doing over-distance work, running 600m, taking a break, then two sets of 500m, another break, and then 300m to finish the set.
For me this work is kind of boring, but I know I have to build up my strength. And, oh boy, my coach pushes me hard if I start to slack. His name is Bert Cameron, and he is a bit of a legend in Jamaican athletics. He won gold in the 400m at the 1983 world championships in Helsinki. At the Los Angeles Olympics the next year he was running the semi-final when he pulled a hamstring coming down the back straight. He stopped, grabbed his leg, and then decided to carry on anyway. He ran through the pain and finished fourth. It qualified him for the final, but the injury was so bad he couldn't start that race. Believe me, you've never seen anything so gutsy. It is inspiring to watch. Bert is a great motivator. He doesn't just sit by the track, he is always standing up, shouting and prowling about, pushing us on.
He is as tough as he sounds, but it is amazing to work with someone who has been a world champion in your event. When I moan he tells me "I've been there, I know what it takes, so just listen to me." And I do. Not that I need that much of an incentive right now. Competing in London is basically like being at home for Jamaicans, because there is so much support. We all know how special that is going to make these Olympics, so like everybody else, I'm working hard as I can to try and be on that team come July.
Nicklas Lidstrom David Liffiton John-Michael Liles Andreas Lilja
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