The day before the opening ceremony I was told that I would be leading the GB out and carrying the flag.

It is a massive honour because you are chosen by your team and it is also something that is completely out of your control.

Although it was a proud moment and it should have been an exciting time, there was still a doubt over my fitness and walking out in front of the team I had a lot on my mind.

I knew that the next day I was going to go and try out the ankle so I could start building up the speed. I wasn't going to be protected in cotton wool just to get to the starting line so I could say I could finish.

We headed out and after about 40 metres I felt good but as I eased down I felt pain in my calf/Achilles junction and I instantly knew I had torn a muscle and my dream was over. It was probably one of the lowest points of my life.

A scan the the following day confirmed it and even though it was a week to my race I had no chance of recovering.

A couple of days later I went back to England because I wanted to get away from it all. Then I had to try to put it behind me and move on.

I'm not saying I did it very well and I think my wife Victoria was on the point of kicking me out a couple of times because I was so fed up. It was the first time in 10 years that I had missed a major championship.

One thing that got to me was in all my years of competing I have never competed in front of a really big crowd and Beijing had that. There was a sense of envy that there were some on the team in their first Games who had that and I missed out after a long career.