By Tom Fordyce

It is a grey February day in Birmingham city centre. Rain is in the air.

With respect to the flashy new Bull Ring, the glamour of Athens' Olympic stadium in August seems rather a long way off. But Mark Lewis-Francis can think about nothing else.

THE MAN THEY CALL MLF Name: Mark Lewis-Francis Age: 21 Event: 100m Honours: World Junior gold (2000), AAA champion 2002 Coach: Steve Platt

This is a big year for the 21-year-old. Four years ago he turned down the chance to go to the Sydney Olympics, heading instead to Chile to take gold in the World Juniors.

The assumption was clear: by 2004, he would be ready to convert his enormous latent potential into Olympic gold.

Reality, as it turned out, was rather more complicated. Lewis-Francis is still waiting for his first international senior medal, despite having beaten every top sprinter at least once.

"It's about time that I started to make my mark," he admits. "I've got the talent to do that, and I believe I can do it, so it should just be a question of going out there and doing it.

"My training is going so well that I should just be able to go out there and run. That should be enough.

"I've learnt from my mistakes. Last year I was a bit greedy. I was chasing the money, I was travelling too much. I'm not going to say that I did too much competing, but it was all the jumping on planes, getting to the airports.

"At one stage I went from Ostrava in the Czech Republic to Oslo, and then straight from Oslo to Glasgow. That finished me off.

"This year it's all about the Olympics. That's what counts - going out there and doing the business at a major championships."

One school of thought says that we have expected too much from Lewis-Francis too soon. He is, after all, at an age when Linford Christie and Maurice Greene were still knocking around in club meets.

The other argument goes like this: if Darrel Brown can win World 100m silver at the age of 18, as he did in Paris last year, Lewis-Francis should be going one better.

"I was gutted when Darrel did that," says the Briton. "But it's all experience. It was my confidence that wasn't there last year, but hopefully it's there this year.

"I'm keeping my fingers crossed, training hard and keeping the belief there. I believe in myself. I believe I can come home from Athens with an Olympic medal - especially when you look at the performances last year."

Losing it in Paris

At both the Worlds in 2001 and 2003, Lewis-Francis flattered to deceive.

In Edmonton three years ago he ran 9.97 seconds in his semi-final (a faulty wind-gauge meant the time was not officially recognised) but finished out of the medals; in Paris last summer he failed to even make the final.

"I think I was a bit too relaxed," he confesses. "In Edmonton I wasn't focused on the task in hand. I was worrying about the little niggles I had, the fact that I wasn't 100% fit because I had a quad strain.

"It was affecting the way I was running. Rather than focusing on my running I was focusing on the injuries. I lost my head.

"It was the same in Paris when I walked out into the arena. I looked around and just lost my confidence. It was only the second time I had been in such a big arena in a major championships, and I totally lost it.

"Hopefully I've learnt from that mistake. Hopefully, when I find myself in a similar situation, I can just focus on the line and that will be it.

"I'm working harder than ever before in training. No-one knows for sure who will come away with that Olympic gold, but I truly believe it could be me."

This is the first in a regular series featuring British athletes aiming for Olympic glory in Athens this summer.