"When I left university in 2005 I knew I could go straight into being a full-time athlete because of National Lottery funding."

An athlete whose roots could not be closer to London 2012. She was brought up only a few miles away from where the Olympic Park is being built in Stratford and will head to the Olympic Games as Britain's only defending track and field champion.

Her career has taken off spectacularly since the spring of 2006 when she won gold in the 400 metres at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne. A year later, with a breathtaking late surge, she won the World title in Osaka and 12 months after that, the ultimate gold medal was draped around her neck in Beijing.

Ohuruogu is plotting the next 12 months after not running indoors this winter, but preparing for a summer where she will be favourite to complete the set of major gold medals at the European Championships in Barcelona.

She has yet to confirm whether she will defend her Commonwealth Games crown in New Delhi, but so much now is a foundation for 2012. She cannot wait to defend her Olympic title on what is literally home soil.