We interview Christine Ohuruogu

"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.

Her great American rival Sanya Richards looked set for glory in Beijing, but the Briton came charging home to snatch victory on the line and become the first British woman to lift the Olympic Games 400m crown.

Now Christine cannot wait to defend her title as the one person who can literally say it is on home soil. She knows the importance of the money generated by players of the National Lottery.