Friday 24 March 2017 11:17, UK
"I packed my kit and went down for breakfast. I saw all the athletes I'd be competing against and it hit me that the race was three hours away. That's when the pressure and nerves started to build...."
Irish 800m runner Mark English had already overcome a massive battle by actually making it to Brazil after fracturing his foot six months before in March.
But here he was, in the canteen at the Rio Olympic Village, preparing for the biggest race of his career, at his very first Olympics.
Would his foot hold out? Would his head cope with competing on the world's biggest stage? The Sky Academy Sports Scholar reveals what happened....
It was my first heat and the build-up started the night before. After eating in the canteen I was off to the Maracana Stadium. I got to the track and it was strange how it just felt like any other championship.
It was the same people coming up to me saying 'good luck' and the same rushed process in the call-up room. I was only in there for five minutes which was mad. It was all so hurried and that was a bit of comic relief.
But then the nerves came back and hit me at the start line.
The crowd was less than at the World Championships in Beijing so that helped to take away some of the butterflies, but I was definitely feeling it.
It's a disaster if you don't qualify in terms of media exposure. It's the Olympics and everybody's tuned in with all your friends and family watching. You want to do well for them and it's the biggest exposure of your sport so you know you're under the spotlight.
I had to try to contain that emotion and yet harness the energy from the adrenaline. That worked well in my heat and I ran a good tactical race. The top three who led for 600 metres faltered and there was space for me to come through and get an automatic qualifying spot.
I was really happy and met my Sky mentor Darren Campbell after the race. He told me to forget all about it and focus on the semi-final. It was good to get his advice because he's always been a good performer at championships.
Two days later, it was the semi-finals.
I knew my friends from my medical class (I am studying medicine in Dublin) were going to be in the stadium so when I came out of the tunnel I looked up and saw the flags and heard the 'olay' chants.
They also started singing my name. I found out later they even got a few Jamaican fans to join in so that was a great crack.
In the build-up to the race, all the management were telling me it was a tough draw and I was just saying 'this is an Olympics, of course it is!'.
The first two in each of the three races, plus the two fastest losers would make the final. I had Olympic champion David Rudisha on one side and European champion Adam Kszczot on the other at the start line. It was always going to be tough!
It was important for me to focus on running a race where I had energy left in the last 200 metres but still be in contention. It would be a big ask from lane 1.
But the pressure wasn't as big as my heat. It was always going to be a massive weight off my shoulders, as long as my preparation was what I wanted it to be. I knew it was a bonus given what I had gone through.
My goal was to get out comfortably fast in the first 200 metres. It meant I was going harder than usual, but not pushing the body too far that I was eating into my reserves for the last 200. I slowed up for the next 200 and that cost me a fastest loser's place. The best way to run it is called 'gradual death'.
You want to go out hard and maintain it. If you start to slow up it's really hard to get going again.
After what I did in the first lap, making the final as a fastest loser was a tall order and I knew it. It was a case of just hanging on and using what I had left in the tank...but my fitness told in the end.
It wasn't to be but considering what I had been through and my circumstances, I was very pleased to achieve what I did.
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