Back then he was training on his own, hoping to prove that he had what it takes to make a comeback to the Great Britain squad at the age of 38, with his real aim to compete in his fourth Olympic Games in 2012, when he will be 40.

Since then he has shown his mettle in two sets of official trials, has given up work to train full-time and has been travelling on training camps with athletes marked as probables for the 2010 season.

And on Tuesday he will find out whether he has achieved his first aim, making the squad for the season's three World Cup regattas, with the first in Bled, Slovenia on the last weekend in May.

In this first instalment, which was made on training camp in Avis, Portugal, he charts a day that includes training on the ergometer rowing machine, breakfasting with Norwegian Olympic champion Olaf Tufte, sculling alongside world silver medallist Alan Campbell and lounging around with room-mate Rich Egington.

Let me know what you think, and what you would like to see in future diaries.

We joined Greg at Easter, on another training camp in Varese, Italy, and he was under no illusions about the task ahead. He had decided it would be harder than expected to make the GB squad - his aim for this year.

But he had also realised that the squad is so packed with talent - with far more depth than when Greg was last involved 10 years ago - that inclusion in any crew would mean a possible World Championship medal in New Zealand in October - a year ahead of his original schedule.

He had hoped to be part of the sculling squad - in the double or quad behind Campbell - this season but his failure to finish among the top seven in trials makes that look unlikely. Instead his best chance for this year appears to be inclusion in the eight, as a wise head among a group of impressive youngsters.

There are lots of other stories that will begin a new chapter with Tuesday's squad announcement:

Despite a surprise world silver last year, Katherine Grainger is likely to move from the single scull into a larger boat - possibly a double with Anna Watkins - as she bids to follow her three successive Olympic silvers with gold in 2012.

Pete Reed and Andy Hodge are likely to be allowed to stay in their pair, which missed out on a world title last year, rather than strengthening the four, which won world gold without them in Poland.

And both Zac Purchase and Mark Hunter, who won Olympic gold together in the lightweight double scull in Beijing, return after taking a year away - Purchase through illness and Hunter to take a coaching job in California. Will they be back in a boat together?

The World Cup announcement marks the columniation of a hard winter's work. After that the work gets harder still, but Greg and the others will be desperate to be a part of it.

Update - Tuesday, 1535 BST:

Great Britain's crews were announced this morning and Greg Searle will race in the key six seat for the opening World Cup event in Bled. Injuries play a big part in this selection, with Tom James - 2008 Olympic champion in the four - one of three absentees from what would probably be the first-choice line-up for that crew.

Greg will have to fight for his spot for the rest of the summer if he wants to feature in the line-up in New Zealand for the World Championships in late October, let alone in two years time in London, although his permagrin today showed his confidence.

Mark Hunter and Zac Purchase will be back in their Olympic champion lightweight double scull in June (once Hunter recovers from a back problem) with a much stronger cast of lightweight men behind them.

In the women's squad, Katherine Grainger and Anna Watkins are in a double scull together and it was pretty clear from speaking to Katherine that this is their first-choice crew for the year - and so possibly for 2012 - even though the duo are also appearing in the quad scull in Bled.

The 18 competitors involved had enough to think about as they battled side by side for four and a quarter miles without asking what part they played in a greater story.

The 156th Boat Race was entertaining enough as a one-off sporting event but several of those involved could look back on it as a key step on their paths to Olympic success.

The race often attracts top foreign oarsmen but this year three young British rowers played key roles in ensuring Cambridge's 80th victory in the race from Putney to Mortlake.

Fred Gill - who sat in the key, stroke seat for the light blues - Henry Pelly and George Nash will all compete at Great Britain trials in Belgium next weekend, aiming to break into the squad that topped the Olympic rowing medal table in Beijing two years ago.

Even before the Boat Race began, Olympic rowing legend Sir Steve Redgrave was talking about the trio.

"They're unlikely to make the team [this year] but maybe by 2012 or soon after they could be part of the British team. If you make the British team your boat has got a chance of winning medals," he told me.

It is easy to dismiss the Boat Race as irrelevant but, of the Great Britain coxless four that clinched gold in thrilling fashion in Beijing, three had raced in blue within the previous three years.

They are all training in Italy this week but BBC Sport caught up with two of them, Andy Hodge and Tom James, before they left to talk about the event, and the 2005 race, in which they went head-to-head in opposing crews.

Hodge, who won in his only race with Oxford, said: "I learnt a hell of a lot when I did the Boat Race and it's stuff I still take with me today."

James, who was in the losing Cambridge boat that day, and would have to compete in two further races before tasting victory, said: "It was one of the key reasons behind me getting into the [Great Britain] squad.

"If I hadn't been at Cambridge I probably wouldn't have made it [into the GB eight] for Athens.

"And I was at Cambridge for three years between Athens and Beijing so most of my rowing development came from being in the Boat Race."

Except for the type of boats used, the event is totally different from international rowing, with a far longer course and many contributing outside factors like the tide and the influence of the weather.

Redgrave was once quoted as likening it to a go-kart race, compared to the Formula 1 that is the international scene, although he later insisted he was not being negative.

And he believes the race is increasingly important as a stepping stone from junior internationals to the senior stage, partly because it is now so difficult to break into a successful Great Britain squad.

"If you want to go to the Olympics but have also got the nous to go to one of the universities it's a good opportunity to be at that level," he said.

"It gives that experience. The atmosphere, build-up and media attention on this race is greater than any rowing athlete has at the Olympic Games.

"It's not just the six months of dedicated training like an Olympian but the whole process that is raising you up a level."

Pelly was delighted and exhausted after the race, after clinching victory at the third attempt.

He has only has five days until he will be on the start line in Hazewinkel in a pair, alongside the country's best oarsmen.

Speaking in the weeks before the race, he told me: "The race itself gives you great experience and great coaching.

"In terms of what I learn from being here, it's great because you only have six months to get it right and that can really move your rowing on technically and physically."

Thanks to the profile of the race and the sponsorship available, both universities employ world-class coaches.

Chris Nilsson joined Cambridge last year, after coaching his native New Zealand to two Olympic gold medals, while Oxford's Sean Bowden could easily be part of the Great Britain set-up.

"I think it's critical for Cambridge and Oxford to be able to develop British rowers. I feel very conscious that we must look after the British youngsters," said Nilsson, crediting Gill in particular as he basked in victory.

Canadian Barney Williams, who joined Oxford for two years after winning Olympic silver behind Matthew Pinsent in Athens in 2004, credits Bowden for fostering a more rounded approach in his rowers than many on the international scene.

Speaking before the race, Bowden smiled as he recounted that George Bridgewater, a New Zealander who had won world gold and Olympic bronze, improved his rowing machine times while at Oxford.

"The groundwork [in New Zealand] was excellent and perhaps a different perspective, a different situation, maybe that was the way to bring out the extra percentage improvement," he said.

Hodge agrees with that "change is as good as a rest" philosophy.

"If you have one coach the whole time you'll reach your peak within that relationship," he said. "But if you can take on the expertise of many coaches and many experiences I think that makes you a richer rower overall."

There are two catches. Firstly, there are no rowing scholarships at Oxbridge and entry standards are as rigorous for oarsmen as for any other aspiring student.

In the past that would have meant a bias in the Great Britain squad towards those who came from the two universities.

That happens to a far lesser extent now, with programmes such as GB Rowing's World Class Start spotting potential talent early and helping them through education, with Reading and Bath Universites part of that pathway.

Also, GB Rowing have over the last few years denied full funding to those who want to study and train at the universities, preferring them to be part of a central squad in Reading, although that applies more to those like James, who are already in the top group, rather than the current trio, who would not receive funding anyway.

The Boat Race is not the only way, but it certainly part of the picture as Great Britain build an Olympic challenge to take their to 2012 and beyond.

And this year will also provide a great chance for people living all around the UK to watch Olympic sport at the highest level, as part of an initiative to hold a world-class event in the UK every fortnight between now and 2012.

Here is a taste of what is to come in 2010 - important dates for GB athletes and events that you can attend yourself - as momentum builds to the London Olympics.

There are loads of events not on this list but I've aimed to cover as wide a spread as possible. Please let me know what and who you will be watching in the next 12 months.

In the past, handball has been one of those Olympic novelty sports that fills the schedules when there are no Brits in action, but the GB teams qualify as hosts for the 2012 Games and are busy raising their games to ensure they will be competitive.

Although they are not taking part in the World Championships in Croatia in early January, Great Britain's men will be taking part in a qualifying tournament for the next world champs, which take place in Sweden in January 2011.

They must face Bosnia & Herzegovina, Romania and hosts Finland, with the winner going into a further qualifying round in June. Realistically, GB's hopes will be to grow further in experience, rather than qualifying this time, but they are taking another big step to 2012.

February - Winter Olympics

The sports may be different but the last big Olympic party before 2012 takes place for a fortnight in Vancouver, starting on 12 February.

Despite funding levels that are roughly 1.5% of that available to the summer sports - which will receive around £235m between 2008 and 2012 - Britain's winter Olympians could return from Canada with as many as six medals.

The men's and women's curling teams, figure skaters Sinead and John Kerr, world bobsleigh champions Nicola Minichiello and Gillian Cooke and the skeleton team - including 2006 Olympic silver medallist Shelley Rudman - all have their sights on podium places, while skiier Chemmy Alcott and snowboarder Zoe Gillings are both optimistic of success.

March - Track Cycling

Victoria Pendleton was the only one of Team GB's Olympic champions to win a gold medal at the World Championships in Poland

After the relative disappointment of last year when Great Britain returned from Poland with just two gold medals - from sprinter Victoria Pendleton and the women's pursuit team - the squad that won four times as many track cycling medals as any other nation in Beijing must reassert their Olympic credentials at this year's World Championships in Copenhagen from 24 March.

Sir Chris Hoy is back in action after a hip injury that ruined last season, and we should get an early idea of whether he will be able to repeat his Beijing haul of three golds in London, when he will be 36.

There will also be a chance to assess the new Olympic programme, which will include the omnium, track cycling's pentathlon, in which David Daniell and Jessica Varnish could be Great Britain's best bets for success.

April - Badminton

From 14 April, Manchester's MEN Arena will showcase Europe's best efforts to break the dominance of the east on Olympic badminton, as the best from the likes of Great Britain and Denmark battle at the European Championships.

In Beijing in 2008, China won eight of the medals on offer, while Indonesia, South Korea and Malaysia took the rest.

Can Great Britain's Nathan Robertson who won Olympic silver in 2004 and world gold in 2006 in the mixed doubles with Gail Emms, enjoy similar success with new partner Jenny Wallwork on the European stage?

Keep an eye out too for British youngsters Chris Adcock and Gabby White, who have both impressed since Beijing.

May - Gymnastics

Beth Tweddle celebrates after winning the fllor exercise gold at the World Championships

After the resounding success of the World Artistic Gymnastics at London's O2 Arena in 2009, the European Championships take place in Birmingham from 21 April 2010.

The first week of action at the National Indoor Arena showcases the men, with 2009 all-around silver medallist Daniel Keatings now a household name and 2008 Olympic bronze medallist Louis Smith - who fell in the the pommel final at the O2 - bidding to bounce back from that disappointment in front of another home crowd.

The second week is for the women, with 2009 world floor medallist Beth Tweddle getting a clearer idea of whether she will be able to challenge for 2012 gold or whether 2010 will prove her final fling.

May - Paralympic World Cup

Since 2005, the Paralympic World Cup in Manchester has been the largest multi-sport elite disability event outside the Paralympics and has provided some top-class competition for GB athletes against some of the world's best.

The likes of South African sprinter Oscar "Bladerunner" Pistorius and his compatriot, swimmer Natalie du Toit, regularly feature alongside top Brits like wheelchair racer Dave Weir and swimmer Ellie Simmonds and cyclists Sarah Storey and Jody Cundy.

The format, which has generally included athletics, swimming, wheelchair basketball and track cycling, has yet to be finalised for this year but, with world championships coming up later in the year, the swimmers and basketball players are likely to view this as a key warm-up event.

June - Women's Boxing

Women have competed under the banner of the Amateur Boxing Association of England since 1996 but their Championships this year have extra significance after the 2009 decision to include women's boxing at 2012.

When the finals take place on 6 June, keep an eye out especially for the top boxers in the Olympic categories - 51kg (flyweight), 60kg (lightweight) and 75kg (middleweight).

Rotherham-based veteran Sharon Holford won at 51kg last year and has her sights firmly set on 2012 but where will we see Liverpool's three-time national champion Natasha Jonas, who must either slim down or bulk up from the 64kg she fought at in 2009 if she is to be an Olympian?

July - Hockey

The Women's Champions Trophy, for the top six teams in the world, takes place at Highfields Sports Club in Nottingham from 10-18 July, and will be a useful form guide for September's Women's World Cup in Buenos Aires.

England, who finished bottom in this event last year but went on to take European bronze later in the summer, are joined by defending champions Argentina, World Cup holders and Olympic champs the Netherlands, China, Germany and New Zealand.

A parallel event in Nottingham will see the country's top men gain a rare chance to compete as their Olympic line-up, Great Britain rather than England, in a four-team tournament also involving regular nemesis Germany, New Zealand and Japan.

July and August - Athletics

Phillips Idowu hopes to add Olympic gold to his world triple jump title

Every summer seems like a big one for athletics. The European Championships, starting on 27 July at Barcelona's 1992 Olympic venue Montjuic Stadium, provide this year's showpiece, but there are also some interesting moves afoot that could help make the world's top athletes the household names they were a generation ago.

In Barcelona, heptathlete Jessica Ennis and triple jumper Phillips Idowu will aim to continue the fine form that brought them world titles last year, while Olympic 400m champion Christine Ohuruogu will aim for a return to form after struggling last season.

Two weeks later, they will be in action at Crystal Palace, where the London Grand Prix is part of the new IAAF Diamond League (successor of the Golden League), which comprises 14 meetings around the world from May to August.

London is the only meeting that will take place over two days and feature all 32 "diamond" events, with a four-carat diamond (worth approximately £50,000) up for grabs to the winner of each series. Olympic 100m and 200m champ Usain Bolt is likely to be just one of the stars on show.

September - Archery and Road Cycling

Edinburgh plays host to the biggest archery event ever seen in the UK on the weekend of 18 and 19 September, when the world's top 32 archers will compete in the World Cup Final at East Princes Street Gardens.

This event, which is the culmination of four World Cup qualifying stages hosted around the world, will allow new Great Britain coach Lloyd Brown to assess his team - which includes 2009 World Cup Final silver medallist Simon Terry in front of a home crowd.

Arguably the most significant event with Olympic implications this year, though, will begin in Melbourne on 29 September, where Britain could have credible candidates for each of the top four events at road cycling's World Championships.

British Cycling have had a long-term plan to deliver a 2010 world crown to Manx Missile Mark Cavendish, on a circuit that is expected to see a bunch sprint at the finish. Meanwhile Nicole Cooke, who won world and Olympic road titles in 2008, will aim to bounce back here.

Bradley Wiggins will focus on the Tour de France with the new British-based Team Sky this season but will also be eager to make up for last year's world time trial, when a mechanical problem robbed him of a medal.

And Rebecca Romero will have a chance to find out whether she has a hope of winning an Olympic title in a third discipline. The former rower won track pursuit gold in 2008, only to see the event removed from the Olympic programme a year later. Can she make a successful transition to road racing?

October - Commonwealth Games

The closest most British athletes get to the Olympic experience at any other time is at the Commonwealth Games, starting on 3 October in Delhi, which feature 13 of the 26 disciplines that will feature at London 2012, rugby sevens - which will be in Rio in 2016 - and lawn bowls, among others.

For some aspiring British Olympians, for example the swimmers, this will be the highlight of their year as they compete for England, Scotland or Wales. Others, like track-and-field athletes, are likely only to take part as long as there is no clash with their long-term aims, and there is an outright clash for gymnasts with the World Championships.

The likes of wrestling and weightlifting will see the event as a chance to give competitors who do not usually star on the world stage, the chance to experience the pressure of a multi-sport event, and perhaps pick up the odd medal too.

And watch out for cyclist Mark Cavendish, who might just crown his year with a victory on the track for the Isle of Man. Four years ago he won the island's first Commonwealth gold for 20 years in the scratch race (which will feature here but not at 2012).

November - Rowing

Rowing's World Championships, which take place in the first week of the month, are in New Zealand for the first time since 1978 and are the point at which Great Britain must prove that the experimentation of 2009 has paid off.

They will also provide a challenge for coaches and athletes, who will aim to be competitive at the World Cup series in Europe in the early summer, then take a break but maintain their form before the Worlds, which are two months later than usual.

Will Katherine Grainger stay in a single or move back to a crew boat as she bids to follow three successive Olympic silvers with a gold to end her career? Will Andy Hodge and Pete Reed continue their bid to be the next Redgrave and Pinsent, or head back to the four, where they won Olympic gold in 2008? Will Greg Searle continue his comeback to 2012? Results here are likely to answer those questions.

December - Equestrian sport

Just as equestrian sport took place in Hong Kong rather than Beijing during the 2008 Olympics, the likes of dressage, showjumping and three-day eventing seem to follow their own schedules with little reference to the Olympic movement for much of the period between Games.

However, the London International Horse Show at Olympia, which begins on 14 December in 2010, is an annual chance to see the world's best in dressage and showjumping, with FEI World Cup qualification places on offer for the top events, as well as the annual crowd-pleasers, such as the Christmas Puissance and the Shetland Pony Grand National.

One of the stars of the 2009 event, Ellen Whitaker, missed the Beijing Olympics because her horse, Locarno, was lame. The duo are likely to be reunited and back in form with less than two years to go before another Olympic shot in London.

Last Saturday, our camera followed Searle for a training session on the River Thames near Marlow, in Buckinghamshire.

In freezing conditions, he got changed in the car park of a rural scout camp, wiped the snow off his sculling boat and carried it gingerly over the ice around the landing stage.

But the difference with this Olympic hopeful is that he already has two medals, the last one from 13 years ago, and he will be 40 years old if he achieves his aim of standing on the medal podium again in two-and-a-half years' time.

Searle burst to prominence way back in 1992 in Barcelona, when he won a dramatic gold in a coxed pair with brother Jonny and cox Garry Herbert (and the current BBC commentator's tears on the podium made it a classic Olympic moment).

In 1996, he and Jonny were in a coxless four which took bronze in Atlanta and, four years later, Searle and Ed Coode suffered the agonising disappointment of being pushed into fourth place in the last strokes of the coxless pairs final in Sydney.

"I competed in three Olympics then I thought it was right to retire, get a serious job and have a family," Searle told me.

"The 2012 Olympics is such a big pull. The thought is that if it's going to happen here, in this city, I want to be a part of it."

Since his last Olympic appearance, Searle has competed in sailing's America's Cup Challenger Series as a grinder, taken part in the London Marathon and London Triathlon, reached the final of the BBC's Superstars series and has remained a regular on the club rowing circuit.

He is currently a director of Lane4, a company established by former Olympic swimming champion Adrian Moorhouse which offers lessons learned in sport to the business community.

And he was a commentator for rowing's world governing body Fisa at the 2009 World Championships in Poznan, Poland.

His children, eight-year-old Josie and six-year-old Adam, don't even remember his last international appearance, and think it is quite cool that their Dad might be going to an Olympics.

However, making a comeback doesn't just involve turning up at GB Rowing's glittering training headquarters in Caversham, near Reading, and being welcomed back into the fold. Searle has to prove himself in a series of trials over the course of the winter.

The 37-year-old grins at the memory of having won the trial for 85 leading young prospects - from outside the senior Great Britain squad - in October.

A scheduled long-distance trial in Lincolnshire last Saturday was cancelled because of the poor weather but a behind-closed-doors version was organised in Caversham, with the stars of the Beijing Olympics involved.

The results are being kept private but Searle's smile says all we need to know before the next set of public assessments on 14 February and the April trials, which will figure large as the squad for the 2010 World Cup season is selected.

There is history on this stretch of river in Marlow, where Sir Steve Redgrave spent the early part of his Olympic career training in the 1980s, storing his boat in his coach's garden.

But, in an era when Great Britain's top Olympic sports and athletes boast world-class training facilities, Searle's conditions are spartan, with a battered caravan the only shelter from the elements.

But he said: "To go to the Olympics gets me out of bed, so when the alarm clock goes off at six I want to get up, sometimes I'm even awake before it.

"It's brilliant to see the sun come up while I'm training, get home to have breakfast with the kids and still be in the office by nine o'clock."

In the New Year, Searle will cut down on his work commitments. He won't be centrally funded unless he gains a place in the GB squad, but he has already found sponsorship to plug some of the gap.

If he returns to the GB squad, he will also be able to join their daily training sessions in Caversham, with a 2000m lake only they can use, a spectacular gym and support staff to take care of aches, pains and worries.

"I [currently] have to fit it around my job but to be honest that's the way it used to be," said Searle.

"My aspiration is to try to be better than ever in the system we have now, which is such a good system."

"The core group are training 20 times a week, while I'm training to build up to 10 times a week."

Step one of Searle's plan is to get into the squad that will compete in the World Championships in New Zealand next October.

If he keeps performing this year, head coach Jurgen Grobler must decide whether Searle's experience could help a young group in the men's eight or quadruple scull.

"My aspiration is to get into the team in 2010, get a [world] medal in 2011 and shoot for gold in 2012," he said.

His aim is by no means unique. Redgrave was 38 when he won his fifth Olympic gold in Sydney and James Tomkins made the 2008 Olympic final in the Australian eight, two days before his 43rd birthday.

Searle and Coode were pushed into fourth place in the last few strokes of their final in Sydney

But attention will have to be paid to his training programme, as it tends to take older athletes longer to recover from performing flat out and the impact on joints could be higher.

And it may be tougher for him to force his way into the top crews - sculler Alan Campbell, the men's pair and men's four (including Matt Langridge, whose boat Searle is currently borrowing) all won world medals in August while double scullers Steve Rowbotham and Matt Wells were Olympic bronze medallists in 2008.

Searle was still smiling as he put his boat away and drove off to meet wife Jenny, while our cameraman tried to thaw his freezing fingers.

He is naturally confident but also philosophical, with the strength of character forged from that agonising defeat in his final Olympic appearance playing a crucial role.

"Maybe I won't make the team," he said. "But I'll be happy to have challenged myself."

Last week I asked on 606 whether Searle could make it to London 2012. Here's what people had to say. Do you think he can get back into the squad for the Olympics and if so can he win another medal?

Only the hardiest hockey players (and the most idiotic reporters and cameramen) would brave a training session in the cold and the driving rain at the local hockey club.

The country's top players had been hoping to stay under the radar, gradually building a team capable of being among the top teams at the 2010 World Cup and gaining a medal at the 2012 Olympics.

Victory for England in the European Championships in August changed all that, though, as they knocked off Olympic champions Germany to win the first major title for a British team since the 1988 Olympics.

They have gone from being nearly men (fifth place for England at the 2006 World Cup and fifth for Great Britain at the 2008 Olympics) to having a far higher profile as one of the teams to beat.

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England start the Champions Trophy - an annual tournament for the world's top six teams - in Melbourne, Australia this weekend with more expectation than there has been in the last 20 years.

There was surprise even from within the team at their European Championship performance but the building blocks have been in place since the appointment of former player Jason Lee as coach five years ago.

In the past, players have tended to retire after each Olympic Games but - perhaps helped by a 25% increase in central funding to £14.13m for the sport over the four years between Beijing and London - most of the squad have been together for much of Lee's time in charge.

Eight of the 18-strong squad who arrived in Australia on 19 November have more than 50 caps for England and forward Jonty Clarke - who plays for Reading and works part-time as an accountant - is one of four players with over 100.

Clarke, 28, describes the EuroHockey tournament as an "incredible experience", as England upset host the Netherlands in the semi-final then - with the pressure resting firmly on the shoulders of their fancied rivals - shocked Germany.

But, sheltering under a brolly on the sidelines at Reading, where his club-mates were training, he insisted little had changed for the team.

"The [victory at the] Europeans changes how other people view us rather than how we view ourselves," he said.

England stars Rob Moore, Simon Mantell, Richard Mantell, Ashley Jackson and captain Barry Middleton

Rather than putting more pressure on the team, defender Richard Mantell - who scored two goals in that final - believes it will boost confidence and experience.

"We've got some great experience from the Europeans and we need to make sure we continue that success and are playing in big games between now and the Olympics," he said.

"It's key for us to make sure we're playing in the semi-finals and finals of big tournaments."

If you're confused by the changing references to England and Great Britain, you're probably not alone. At the start of this week, Wikipedia editors thought it was GB who were in action in Melbourne but it is England who get another shot at Germany on Saturday, with a testing schedule leading up to the final the following Sunday.

Great Britain rarely play outside the Olympics. The squad in Beijing included just two Scots with another as a reserve, and their place at the 2008 Games was gained because of England's results.

There will be a chance to watch the GB men in action in Nottingham next July, in a four-team friendly tournament to run alongside the women's Champions Trophy.

To build greater awareness, England launched a "new identity", featuring the three lions logo, in the run-up to this tournament. Meanwhile, Wales and Scotland play in the tier of international teams below England and both have already missed out on qualifying for the 2010 World Cup.

Clarke is already looking forward to playing in front of 25,000 fans in the event, at Delhi's revamped Dhyan Chand National Stadium in March.

And he regards this Australia trip as another step to building a side capable of challenging there.

"We now go into the Champions Trophy as contenders rather than just being in it to try and stay in it for next time," he said.

"But we're taking a few inexperienced players and it's part of our development towards next year's World Cup, which is far more of a target for us.

"The World Cup, outside of the Olympics, is the biggest hockey tournament out there. It's incredibly important for us to perform well."

Reading goal-keeper Nick Brothers, who spent the European Champs on the bench behind James Fair, is just one of those who will be hoping to increase their experience against the world's best.

Even if they're confident of bettering Germany again, an Ashes contest looms against Australia - who they have not beaten since 1985, when matches were still played on grass rather than the sort of lightning-fast Astroturf in use at Reading and across the world now.

(And there's also a moust-Ashes contest going: both teams are taking part in the Movember campaign, as you may be able to tell from Clarke's upper lip in our video.)

The England team will be back in Delhi in October for the Commonwealth Games, which performance director David Faulkner recently described as being "vital" for their Olympic preparation because of its multi-sport environment.

Clarke admits the team are already thinking about 2012, but the major events on their schedule over the next three years help them plan in the short-term.

"We would dearly love to come away [from the Olympics] with a medal and ideally a gold one but it's so far away, so many things can change between now and then," he said.

"We know what we're going to do in the next three years - train really hard and play as best we can - and hopefully that will be enough to do something special."

My favourite response from the evening's interviews, though, came from Brothers who said of the Olympics: "If I'm being honest, it's probably the first thing I think about when I step onto the training pitch.

"London 2012 is our goal and you're not going to do that by having a flash-in-the-pan tournament. We've had some success and it's critical that we build on that."

Watch highlights of all of England's Champions Trophy games on the BBC Sport website (UK users only). Check out the England squad and schedule on the England Hockey website

The World Championships finally came alive on Sunday, with crowds packing the grandstand and the grass banks of Lake Malta.

And the home team rewarded them, with three Polish crews winning medals, including gold for the Olympic champion quad, who have folk hero status and beat Australia in a thrilling final.

But Great Britain's big party was on Silver Saturday and the day after had a hungover feel to it, with dark sunglasses all round.

There were brave faces from Sophie Hosking and Hester Goodsell, who had come into the event as favourites but knew a revamped Greece would provide a tough challenge, even before the water became rough.

And there were tears from the lightweight women's quad, who had their sights on a first gold medal in 16 years for veteran Jane Hall but who had real trouble in the waves of the final 500m.

But there was a firm smile from GB team manager David Tanner, buoyed from the events of Saturday, which took him past his pre-event medal target of four with a day to spare, and also upbeat about the development prospects on show on Sunday.

Only three members of the women's eight, including cox Caroline O'Connor, were in action in Beijing a year ago but they ran with the US Olympic champions for the first half of their final.

The men's eight contains only one Olympian (former lightweight James Clarke) and impressed to qualify for the final even if they dropped off the pace in Sunday's last race.

And the women's quadruple scull, containing two new faces and two - Katie Greves and Beth Rodford - getting used to two oars instead of one this season - impressed in winning the World Cup series, although they struggled in Poznan.

"The guys and girls coming up and in have done a fantastic job this year," Tanner told a huddle of reporters as the final anthems were playing.

"But we need to strengthen those boats to get into the medal zone. There are people there but there is a gap we need to bridge.

"However, Tom Lucy [Olympic silver medallist in the eight] and Zac Purchase [gold medallist in the lightweight double] were not heard of three years before Beijing."

Selection queries have already begun but it will be a slow process before the crews for 2010, and then for 2012, begin to emerge properly.

For now, it's time for a few weeks off. Gold medallist Matt Langridge is off to do a diving course in Egypt, while sculler Alan Campbell is taking his red-and-yellow trainers and red-and-yellow sunglasses to Bermuda.

The reporting date for next year is 28 September, with winter trials taking place in singles and pairs through April before crews are finally put together again.

And Tanner even voiced the possibility that 2010 could be another "flexible" season, with the World Championships later than usual in late October in New Zealand.

That might mean another experimental year for Katherine Grainger in the single and Pete Reed and Andy Hodge in the pair before hard decisions are made.

Langridge would like to be back in the four - which Tanner called the "crew of the Championships, from any nation" - but admits the winter programme is necessary to make them all faster in future.

It has been a great four days in Poznan, with sun, some great racing and another strong showing from Great Britain.

Wherever you watched them (and if you're in the UK and haven't yet, you can do so in iPlayer until Saturday) it would be great to hear your thoughts on the action and on GB's performance.

Memories of Great Britain's Super Saturday in Beijing were never far away from the mind on the first day of finals in Poznan but this was a Silver Saturday for GB's rowers on Lake Malta.

And that was good enough for a squad that is in development, three years away from the next Games in London.

Four GB entries ended up in second place, including Great Britain's first ever brace of medals in the single sculls, for Katherine Grainger and Alan Campbell.

The best performance brought victory for the men's four of Matt Langridge, Alex Gregory, Richard Egington and Alex Partridge, who dominated an Australian crew who were far more impressive in Beijing a year ago.

Grainger came close to pulling off a shock victory in Poznan

"It's difficult to take the highlight away from a gold medal," he said. "But Kath Grainger put in an outstanding performance. The single is the toughest of all events.

"I've got a soft spot for Kath because she was on the team when I was competing."

Grainger was on the same place on the podium but the contrast was marked between the grin here and the tears when her quad were denied by China in last year's Olympic final.

She has already justified her decision to carry on for another four years, aiming to end her run of three successive Olympic silvers with victory at London 2012.

Less happy were Andy Hodge and Pete Reed, gold medallists a year ago in the four but now pushed into second place by New Zealand, even though they pushed the Kiwis far harder than they have all season.

After he and Hamish Bond were pushed to within 1.7 seconds of the world best time set by Matthew Pinsent and James Cracknell in 2002, Eric Murray had to be helped from the boat, and Redgrave strode over to shake his hand.

"The GB pair did very well. It's disappointing to see multi-world champions and Olympic champions not staying at that level but this was an outstanding New Zealand pair," said Sir Steve.

New Zealand have been impressive this season, after a disappointing showing in Beijing and with the World Championships set to take place there next year, but there is a sense that GB will slowly close the gap.

You couldn't wipe the smiles off the faces of the men's four, or their coach Mark Banks, who endured having to make do with silver, along with three of this crew in the eight in Beijing.

He revealed that a new format for their start had given them a better platform, and was then lifted off his feet by Alex Partridge, who will hope that he can end his string of disappointments and take gold in his third Olympiad with the squad.

The debate over the GB sweep squad's best combination has not gone away all year and it will intensify now, with Tom James from the Beijing four set to return after a year out and veteran Steve Williams likely to join him.

Given the six currently competing, Redgrave said: "It's difficult because in some ways you want your best athletes in the boat with the best gold medal chance.

"If you put Andy and Pete in the four it would be faster but then the pair would probably not be of medal potential.

"But there are two more world championships to go before London and several athletes have taken a year out."

The women's combinations will also be interesting, as Grainger could now consider continuing with what had originally been a one-year learning experience in the single.

Annabel Vernon was alongside Grainger in the quad last year and was consigned to silver once more, barely able to walk after she and her best friend Anna Bebington ran home crew Poland all the way to the line.

Bebington has a call of "toothpaste legs" in mid-race to make sure they squeeze out all their power, and their push did just that.

Vernon was barely able to walk from the boating pontoon and joked wryly: "I don't think I'll be up for dancing tonight."

Meanwhile Bebington had to balance disappointment with her pleasure at going one better than she did with a different partner in Beijing and winning her first world silver.

Sculler Alan Campbell had a muted celebration too, pleased at having won his first world medal after promising much for the last four years but disappointed not to have gained the extra half-length he needed to prevent Mahe Drysdale winning his fourth world title.

Campbell does much of his training on the tidal Thames, the choppy conditions in a strong tailwind at the finish here proving it an ideal preparation to win Great Britain's first world sculling silver since Stuart MacKenzie in 1962.

Watch highlights of Alan Campbell's race (UK users only)

A group of his club-mates from Tideway Scullers School, who travelled from London to Poland in a minibus to cheer him on, threw him flag in the club's red, yellow and white, in the pattern of the union flag, which he unfurled on the podium.

"It might not have been a Super Saturday but with two sculling singles in was pretty magical," said Redgrave.

"At the beginning of the day I would have said four medals and we've got five. You've got to be disappointed for the individuals but overall it's a great day."

The final day's racing is set to be Slimmer Sunday, with medals on offer for both the men's and women's lightweight doubles, although the men's eight also expect to make the podium, which should put GB atop the medal table.

If you're watching the TV coverage on Sunday and someone nearby asks what those little people at the back of the boat do, it's fine to kick off by saying there are eight big men with small cox but there's a lot more to tell.

Phelan Hill, a 28-year-old from Bedford, says his role in the Great Britain men's eight is like combining those of jockey, football manager and occasionally mother.

When he needs it, he also has experience of dealing with crisis situations thanks to his afternoon job, working as a banking and financial advisor to the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

"You go out there with a plan but races sometimes don't go to plan so you have to make a value judgement, like a football manager would," he told me.

"I like the jockey analogy more, though, because that makes the rowers the horses. If you whip them too hard they get tired before the finish but if you don't do it enough they won't work hard enough.

"And, like horses, you have to show them who's boss.

"But you sometimes have to be a mum, aware of how people are feeling. You have to be critical and know when they're being lazy but you can't hit someone all the time."

Phelan steers the boat using small handles, which attach to a rudder below and behind him and he also speaks to the crew via a microphone that connects to loudspeakers by their feet. He also has a "cox box", which tells him times, speeds and stroke-rates, all of which he will relay.

He isn't the coach - that job is shared by John West and Christian Felkel - but he is the voice of the coach in the boat. And you will only see a cox in an eight at big events, since other coxed categories were cut from the Olympics in 1996.

Garry Herbert was the cox who won a thrilling Olympic gold in 1992, in a coxed pair with Greg and Jonny Searle.

These days he is the BBC rowing commentator who produced adrenaline-packed sound tracks that accompanied famous victories in successive Olympiads for Steve Redgrave, Matthew Pinsent, and the GB men's four in Beijing.

He believes Phelan is a good mix of head and heart, which is just what is needed.

"Training is all about the head but racing is the head and the heart," says Garry. "You need to be able to say one word, when they're in pain, to make them go beyond that.

"You can only make a change to improve a crew's racing without panic and with a closeness that you have to build up over time."

After the heroics of 1992, Greg Searle moved into coxless boats (where steering is done using a plate attached to the feet of one of the rowers and instructions are a few grunted calls from an assigned member of the crew) winning bronze in the four in Atlanta and coming fourth in a pair in Athens.

Greg Searle, Jonny Searle and cox Garry Herbert won gold in Barcelona

"Garry coxed the way he commentates," Greg told me. "He was very enthusiastic about our prospects, had a high level of belief.

"When he said, 'I can see you're coming back on them,' we believed him and dug deeper."

Just before the Searle brothers surged past Italy in a thrilling finish 17 years ago (which I can't link to but which is well worth watching on YouTube), Herbert famously asked: "If not you, who? If not now, when?"

Greg only recalls hearing the first half of the line but it was enough to remind him of the phrase being used during a meeting the three had with psychologist Brian Miller.

"It took us back to that meeting, sitting around a kitchen table, looking into each other's eyes and telling each other what we were prepared to go through for each other.

"Garry knew what to say to get the extra out of us. If he'd said, 'You could be famous' or 'You could make a lot of money out of this' it wouldn't have worked."

Garry, Greg and Jonny came up through the rowing ranks together, which the first two believe plays a major part in the bond between cox and crew.

But they cemented their gold medal-winning bond on an altitude training camp in Silvretta, Italy, when they chose to throw three beds into a two-man room.

In the same venue 17 years on, Phelan and his crewmates were building camaraderie around an in joke about cut-down shorts. It's at least better than the fancy dress sported by last year's lot.

Phelan Hill and the GB eight hope for a place on the podium on Sunday

Five of the eight are called Tom so Phelan (although he can be seen on TV on Sunday saying, "I'm 'Phelan' there are too many Toms around here") has to work in nicknames to tell them apart.

It's difficult to be one of the lads, though, when they're pushing their bodies to exhaustion while you sit, steer and shout.

"I need to work more on my experience, being more of a leader," says Phelan. "As a cox you're part of the crew but not. I'm a link between the guys and the coach.

"You can't be their friend all the time and that's sometimes quite difficult."

Phelan has only had two months in this line-up but the bulk of the crew have raced together all season and have identified opponents in other crews, who Phelan will mention in his calls.

If Sophie Hosking and Hester Goodsell continue their impressive form this season and take World Championship gold on Sunday, the first thing they will be breaking open is the ice-cream.

The duo make up the women's lightweight double scull - one of Great Britain's best chances of gold after two international victories already this year - but racing at lightweight means they have to think about more than just training hard in the lead-up to a regatta.

Two hours before each of their races this week, they have to weigh in at no more than 59kg each, with a crew average of 57kg - 8st 9lb. That means no chocolate for Hester, no beer for Sophie and no ice-cream for either of them.

Goodsell and Hosking are one of Great Britain's best bets for gold

After decades of dominance for big, heavy men in British rowing, the smaller members of the squad are finally enjoying success.

The categories were first introduced to the Olympics in 1996, done in the hope of spreading rowing success around more nations but instead they have generally opened up new routes to gold for established nations like Great Britain.

Zac Purchase and Mark Hunter won Olympic gold in the men's double in Beijing last year and are expected back for more at London 2012, despite both taking time off this season.

Meanwhile, Sophie and Hester - having already won GB's first World Cup gold medals in the category this summer - have their eyes on the first ever World Championship lightweight gold for GB's women this weekend, despite losing a close sprint to Germany in their semi-final on Friday.

It isn't as easy as cutting out ice-cream, though. As in boxing, the best competitors are those who are naturally heavier but shed the pounds, and that means an entire season of moderating food intake, often feeling hungry and tired as a result, and sometimes sweating off the final few ounces on the morning of each race.

On Friday in Poznan, in the sort of headwind that makes lightweights wince when they wake up, Sophie and Hester did what they needed to do to make the final.

Sophie's smile afterwards made it clear that Germany had tried much harder to win a neck-and-neck race, even though the first three finishers qualified.

Meanwhile, Rob Williams and Paul Mattick, standing in for Purchase and Hunter this season, were pleased to make it through to the last six after failing to gain a medal at any of the three big races so far this year.

When I spoke to Londoners Sophie and Hester before these championships began, they took the lightweight aspect of their jobs in their respective strides.

"I'm 5ft 9in so it's quite a challenge for me to be 57kg but we do it because we want to be the top in our event," said Hester, 25, who finished 11th at the Olympics with her former partner Helen Casey.

"We could never be 6ft 4in and 100kg so we row lightweight and aim to be the best at our particular weight."

Sophie, 23, added: "It's just another challenge and something we have to factor into everyday training."

It takes speaking to someone who has been there, done it and is no longer doing it to get a real insight into the challenges.

A year after racing in the lightweight four, Clarke now strokes the openweight eight

James Clarke, 24, was a world champion in the men's lightweight four in 2007 but the crew struggled to repeat that success last season, finishing fifth in Beijing.

Since January, though, Clarke has put on 10kg, is rowing in the openweight men's eight in Poznan and the smile on his face when we spoke said it all.

"Most of the lightweights can deal with it. Maybe they have a different mentality from me but I found it a bit too stressful," he said.

"The whole process of losing weight detracts from performance. You've got to lose muscle, lose your fat and towards the end you have to sweat down as well.

"It's quite a scientific process. We get a lot of support from nutritionists, physiologists, trying to help us hit our targets.

"But feeling hungry the whole time and trying to survive on not enough food plays havoc with your concentration and you get short-tempered."

Cheese was the thing James missed most. Now his biggest challenge might be hiding his food from the seven bruisers who sit behind him in a crew that he hopes will be good enough to win a medal after qualifying in impressive fashion earlier this week for Sunday's final.

He still isn't anything like as big as his crew-mates but Clarke feels the time spent as a lightweight taught him a lot about relying on technique rather than brute force, a lesson he is still putting to good use.

"I now have an extra 10kg and I know how to use it, whereas some people who have always been strong may revert to just pulling harder when they need to go faster," he said.

Hester, Sophie and James all race next on Sunday, with the men's eight the grand finale of the championships at this relaxed yet impressive venue on Lake Malta.

But Great Britain's other medal hopes compete on what could be Super Saturday, when an event that has been pretty quiet on the banks so far should get a lot more exciting.

You can watch it all live on the red button (and the BBC website if you're in the UK), listen live on 5 live sports extra or watch the highlights later in the day on BBC TWO.

Alan Campbell grew up near the Giant's Causeway near Coleraine in Northern Ireland. So it's appropriate he now competes in an event for huge bodies, huge talents and huge egos, as Great Britain's representative in the men's single sculls.

Most of rowing is about taking individuals and making them work together as one collective, efficient whole. This event is the one big exception, though, and on Lake Malta in Poznan, Poland on Thursday I got my first look for five months at all the giants rumbling together, in the World Championships semi-finals.

Chief giant is 33-year-old Olaf Tufte, a Norwegian farmer who has won gold at the last two Olympic Games. When you're used to meeting rowers, their height has less of an impact, and they're all pretty wide but Tufte has a third dimension - he is deep too. He has a chest like a hot water tank.

Campbell, 26, was fifth in Beijing after a harrowing few months that saw the infection from an abscess in a tooth travel to his knee, leaving him requiring surgery and out of action for five weeks, with the muscles in one leg so wasted it was half the size of the other.

Then there is Mahe Drysdale, who won the World Championships in three successive years but suffered a stomach virus at the Beijing Olympics and collapsed over the finish. But only after he had won a bronze medal.

Campbell, Drysdale and Tufte are friends and favourites for world singles medals

Drysdale, 30, has won every event he has entered so far this year, maximising his 6ft 6in frame with a brutal efficiency.

Campbell got out of his boat after winning his semi-final and shouted, "Yes, we're gonna do it" to a group of British supporters in the grandstand.

But even as he said it, his friend Drysdale was powering through the second semi-final and Campbell is under no illusions that the Kiwi is the man to beat on Saturday.

Most of rowing is faceless. Competitors might know rivals to nod to but don't tend to socialise outside their own crews or squads. Scullers are different, a band of brothers that crosses national and competitive divides.

That is why, last March, eight of the world's top scullers - including five of the six from the Olympic final - came together in London to race in a crew together.

They took on Cambridge University's Boat Race crew after five sessions together then at the end of the week beating Great Britain's best - a crew featuring five Olympic medals from Beijing.

And afterwards they could be found together at their host club, dancing on tables and singing Bonnie Tyler.

As Campbell told 5 live's Nick Mullins recently: "We are very friendly. We have a great respect for each other. It almost gives us more enthusiasm to beat each other because there's something good about getting one up on your mates."

I went to visit the "Great Eight" in training during that week in March. After a 14km trip on the river, Tufte asked their coach, "Can we train now?"

The weights room was a mass of sideways glances, working out who was lifting what and adding a bit more and a bit there to make sure they didn't get left behind.

Around a mountainous pasta lunch Tufte, who earns a living growing cereals at the family farm in Horten in south-east Norway, had time to talk about the annual Farmer Challenge he runs, in which competitors throw milk churns, run with sandbags and chop logs.
Campbell adopted aspects of the challenge in his Christmas training programme last year, in a bid more for increased mental toughness than improved fitness.

He has been uncompromising all year in his determination to win the gold medal at London 2012, the main aim even before last year's disappointments gave him an extra surge of motivation.

Drysdale was quieter than those two characters, revealing that he considered spending a year at Oxford University this season and taking part in the Boat Race but that other logistics were against him.

There was also Czech Olympic silver medallist Ondrej Synek, whose smiling, friendly demeanour and brave attempts at speaking English do little to temper the intimidation you feel when speaking to a combination of 6ft 5in in height and 15st 6lb in weight.

On Thursday, Campbell dominated his semi-final, a length ahead of Synek, while Tufte only just took the third qualifying spot from Christou Ioannis of Greece but, according to Campbell, looked comfortable.

Meanwhile Campbell, who has been in danger of gaining a reputation as someone who does well early in the season but cannot win championship medals, has undergone something of a coming of age.

"I feel I should have got a medal by now and I still haven't got it but I feel in the best possible shape," he said.

"I gave it a good, hard go but I didn't have to redline."

Asked about Drysdale, he said: "We'll see each other on the course and I want to see him do well, but I want to do better."

Drysdale looks favourite for Saturday but even that is just the first of the giant steps to Olympic gold, laying down a marker and inflicting a little further psychological damage.
There are lots of little steps too, like the brinkmanship in the weights room, and perhaps Tufte playing dead in his semi-final.

"It's going to be a pretty good final," Drysdale told a group of reporters after pulling into the side of the lake still dripping sweat and sun cream.

"Tufte will try to find something, Synek usually saves himself for the final and Alan is going well."

Does the fact he knows them all so well count in his favour or against him?

"I know what to expect because there are no guys out there who will be a surprise but it's harder because I've got 48 hours now, knowing how much it's going to hurt."

As Campbell readily points out, Tufte's first international medal after Athens 2004 was in Beijing in 2008. While Drysdale dominated the intervening three years, the Norwegian overcame illness and peaked just at the right time.

Campbell doesn't quite seem ready to concede gold here but he will certainly say that it is gold in London in three years' time that matters most. He is still learning and that gold could be his even if he has to accept silver on Saturday.

The last two World Cup regattas have brought just three victories and although GB won the World Cup series overall, that was mainly because two of their biggest rivals - Germany and New Zealand - missed the opening event while the other, Australia, didn't even take part in the series.

But they have still opted to continue their experiment for this year's World Championships in Poznan, Poland, in August, putting veterans in new situations and giving experience to younger athletes, with a confidence and bravery that has arguably been lacking in the past.

And the men's pair of Andy Hodge and Pete Reed, the front half of the Olympic gold medal winning four who have been the country's fastest pair for five years, have been experiencing a form of Groundhog Day, finishing behind New Zealand duo Eric Murray and Hamish Bond at their last three encounters. (There is footage of Henley here and Lucerne here if you can bear it.)

GB Rowing have agreed with UK Sport a target of four medals at the World Championships in Poznan, Poland, in August but still they are not feeling the pressure to look short-term and put their best rowers in the boats with the best chances of medals.

The men's four of Matt Langridge, Alex Gregory, Richard Egington and Alex Partridge looks most likely to win in Poznan.

Coach Jurgen Grobler could have guaranteed gold by adding Reed and Hodge to the combination, following the route he took in 2004, when he added James Cracknell and Matthew Pinsent to a four that was already strong.

But instead, he has opted to stick with line-ups that could - if all goes to plan - race in London in three years' time, and to give them valuable extra experience.

Smaller boats like singles and pairs offer better learning opportunities as there are fewer places to hide and the world's better athletes tend to compete in those classes.

And these new projects have offered veteran competitors a way of staying fresh in the year after the Olympics, when motivation is always most difficult.

"I haven't thought about another boat since we got into the pair. We don't want to run off to an event we think will be easier," said Reed, who has clearly had enough of being asked how his crew is going to beat New Zealand.

The slightly longer-suffering Hodge added: "You've got to look at ways of stimulating performance and making the next step.

"For London we're there to win a gold medal and this is the first step."

Grainger's reasoning is similar, although the prospect of reuniting her Beijing quad of Annabel Vernon, Frances Houghton and Debbie Flood sounds like it may be a possibility when the latter two return from year-long sabbaticals.

"I want to be the best I can be, particularly in three years' time," she told me.

"In the first year of the four-year cycle leading up to 2012 it seemed to be the best plan to move me on.

"There was always the question of, if I wasn't medalling in the single, could I jump into another boat and possibly get a medal and that was an option but I would have been undermining the reason for doing it in the first place."

I'd be interested to hear your thoughts. Are they right to stick with the current project or should they have use the better rowers to strengthen crews with a better chance of gold medals?

I risked outstaying my welcome at the crew announcement at Caversham, gathering interviews that will run in the lead-up to Poznan, while the squads are at various training camps around Europe.

While the GB kitbags are being packed, the rest of the country is preparing for the National Championships in Nottingham this weekend, an event that rarely sees a GB international.

With the World Championships to be held in New Zealand in October next year, though, the big boys and girls will be given a break after the World Cup season.

As Beth Rodford mentioned in her blog recently, they enjoy those rare chances to race in front of a home crowd so let's hope they take this one - they may not get another chance before 2012.

Henley Royal Regatta, with its blazers (which must not be removed even in the middle of a heat wave), hats and flowing dresses (which must not be above the knee), deckchairs and pints of Pimms and lemonade, is arguably more famous as a social occasion than a sporting event.

It's a very good sporting event too, though, and especially so this year, with the possibility of three Olympic champions not even making it to the finals.

Last year, the Great Britain squad were kept out of action as they prepared for Beijing. This year - although August's World Championships are a clear priority - six GB crews, and single sculler Alan Campbell, have entered.

Norwegian sculler Olaf Tufte will have to get past Campbell in Saturday's semi-finals. Alan has beaten him twice in World Cup events this year, and he's pretty fired up. As he tweeted recently: "I'm so excited I could pee myself."

Meanwhile, Pete Reed and Andy Hodge hope that the advantage of home water will help them overcome New Zealand's Eric Murray and Hamish Bond, who beat them handily in the last World Cup regatta in Munich.

There are plenty of differences from international, six-lane racing as Henley is head-to-head, over a slightly longer distance and with formidable wooden booms, rather than plastic buoys, to keep you in your lane.

In Munich, they raced as Great Britain in the men's coxless pairs. At Henley, Reed and Hodge will be rowing as Molesey Boat Club and Leander Club in the Silver Goblets & Nickalls' Challenge Cup.

You could view it as an anachronism that prevents the casual sports fan being able to work out what's going on. You may have a point, although it is also an enjoyable nugget of history in an event that dates back to 1839.

It's not all about elite sportsmen and women. (Yes, it's about women too - they've been around since 1993. Competing!) The Royal has three events for club crews and two for students.

For some of them, just getting through last Friday's qualifiers was an achievement. Others will have their sights on making it as far as they can through five days of racing. (And some of them were in action last Sunday at 430am, when 170 people swam the course in what has become yet another Henley tradition).

Campbell's club-mates at Tideway Scullers School will have high hopes in the Thames Cup for eights after Leander, who beat them in the final with a crew of GB development rowers last year, were controversially asked not to enter club events this season.

If you're taking part, donning your best outfit to watch or sitting in the office, manically hitting the refresh button on the results feed, I'd like to hear from you. Who are you watching and what are you hoping for?

It's a little late but the same goes for Henley Women's Regatta, which took place two weeks ago. Did you take part? Did you enjoy the experience? Did you manage to avoid the coaches on bikes hurtling down the towpath?

I'll be at Henley over the weekend and using Twitter (but only in areas where I'm allowed to use my mobile phone, obviously). I'm pretty excited too, but not quite as excited as Alan.

(Photo of Alan Campbell above by Sophia Hassou)

Having an arm span longer than your height is just one of the indicators that you might be geared for Olympic success, and rowing is one of the best-placed sports to spot it.

Lung capacity is another. Peter Reed, who won Olympic gold in the GB coxless four, can take on board 11.68 litres of air - almost twice that of the average person.

But, as he prepares for the second World Cup regatta of the season in Munich this weekend, even he is a little scared of the group of "seven-foot monsters with horns", all dying to take his place in the top crews.

Mohamad Sbihi is 6ft 8in tall. If weighed in stones, he is probably comparable to a decent-sized quarry. Unsurprisingly, he's known as Big Moe.

Six years ago, when he was 15, coaches from GB Rowing's World Class Start programme visited his school in Surbiton, spotted his size and physiological prowess and convinced the Arsenal fan he could star somewhere other than Highbury.

"We had a special PE lesson and they asked all the tall guys to attend. I wasn't too excited - I wanted to play football - but I did the tests and found I could be good at rowing," he told me.

"I was shocked but excited and a couple of years down the line I started to realise my potential."

All sorts of sports have been jumping on the bandwagon in the run-up to the London Olympics, through talent identification initiatives like Sporting Giants, Pitch2Podium and Girls4Gold.

But GB Rowing is well ahead of the curve - its programme was in place before the Athens Olympics of 2004, and it is really starting to bear fruit now.

Fifteen members of the squad for the World Cup regatta in Banyoles three weeks ago, came through the programme, including all four the members of the men's quadruple scull, who gave Olympic champions Poland a real battle before being forced to accept a silver medal.

Two of the leading women, Olympic medallists Annabel Vernon and Anna Bebington, were both graduates of World Class Start in its early stages.

Steve Gunn is in charge of "looking for highly motivated monsters" and he knows just what it takes to be an Olympic champion.

Gunn coached the Searle brothers (and their cox Garry Herbert) to gold in Barcelona in 1992 and was chief coach for New Zealand, when single sculler Rob Waddell won his country's only gold in Sydney.

Waddell has one of the highest VO2 max intake levels ever tested, meaning he is able to take and use more oxygen from his blood. He still holds the world record over 2000m on the indoor rowing machine, at 5 min 36.6 sec.

"We're looking for tall people - about 5ft 11in for women and 6ft 3in for men. We like them to have arms longer than their height, they should be naturally very strong and either very fit or able to react well to training," Gunn explains.

Once talent has been identified, World Class Starters are spread among 11 full-time coaches at eight centres around the country. They attend seven training camps a year in Nottingham, where their progress is tested.

For Gunn, the biggest challenge at this stage is tailoring training to suit these extreme candidates.

"Some of the things are already Olympic standard - they may have Olympic standard quads but couch potato abs," he says.

"In a normal club programme they could get injured, or be clumsy and lose interest."

It's not just about the size of the engine, of course. Rowing is still a very technical sport, even if many of the skills can be learnt rather than being down to natural ability.

Gunn reckons it takes six years to take someone who has never rowed before and turn him or her into an international rower.

"If my technique's not there I'm deadweight in the water, no matter how good my physiology is," says Moe.

For much of the programme, WCS athletes are still amateur. Some training may be subsidised but it is not until they are singled out as having medal potential that any funding kicks in.

And cash is a hot topic for many people when it comes to rowing. Those cut-glass accents and stripey blazers put a lot of people off even thinking about taking up the sport.

I was particularly keen to talk to Moe because he seems a long way from the public perception of a rower. Rather than Eton and Oxford he went to state-funded Hollyfield School and St Mary's College, Twickenham.

And he's a practising Muslim with family in Morocco, taking part in a sport that is almost exclusively white.

"Wherever you go there are going to be potential barriers and I deal with them by ignoring them," he says.

"You're told about the perception of what it's going to be like so you can't help but notice.

"But you see in other sports that people are breaking down the image barriers and that's what's going on now - rowing is totally different to what it was 10 or 20 years ago."

Gunn says the opportunity to alter rowing's demographic is a nice one but coincidental.

A former window-cleaner from Scarborough is starting to make an impact on the lightweight squad while a farmer from Orkney is training at the WCS centre at Reading University.

"Our aim is to add a different talent stream, to reach out to people who otherwise wouldn't have a chance, either because they never thought of rowing or because their situation in a club is not strong enough," Gunn explains.

"Moe is an example of someone who never thought of rowing until we raided his school and did tests."

When he was first asked to try his hand at rowing, Moe admits, he knew about Steve Redgrave and Matthew Pinsent, Oxford and Cambridge, but not much else.

Now, after winning medals aplenty at U23 level and still only 21, he us in his first year in the senior squad, towering above the five seat in the GB men's eight.

Moe describes the silver medal his crew won in the opening World Cup event of the season as "the first step on the long road to 2012" and adds: "The whole idea of getting into the sport was the prospect of being a 2012 athlete."

Gunn says: We're starting to make an impact and to add value to the team.

"We were the top rowing nation at the Olympics and this gives us an edge to stay at the top."

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Grainger begins new Olympic rowing epic
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