By Luke Surry

SARAH STEVENSON Born: 30 March 1983 Weight category: Middle or heavyweight Club: All-stars Doncaster Coach: Gary Sykes

For a 21-year-old whose place in the Olympic team has just been confirmed, the next few months should bring a combination of excitement and trepidation.

But taekwondo fighter Sarah Stevenson has done it all before.

Four years ago, the then unknown 17-year-old from Doncaster was the youngest member of the GB team at the Sydney Games.

She caused a major shock by reaching the semi-final, where a controversial judging decision saw her lose her match by the closest of margins, denying her the chance to propel herself - and her sport - to stardom.

Despite her success, Stevenson found the 2000 Games a bewildering experience. Her youth and obscure specialism placed her under the spotlight, and she found it difficult to cope with the media attention.

"If we went anywhere the newspapers always wanted to speak to me because I was a girl and the youngest one there." Stevenson told BBC Sport.

"People don't really associate girls with doing contact sports and they always wanted to speak to me, so I did feel a lot of pressure."

I wasn't enjoying my training - I'd been doing it for so long and I was getting a bit sick of it Sarah Stevenson

Four years on, she is ready to do it all again. But the road to Athens has been far from smooth.

Twelve months ago, Stevenson suffered a dip in motivation. A serious knee injury made matters worse, and she considered leaving the sport she had loved since childhood.

"I thought I didn't want to do it anymore," she said." I wasn't enjoying my training. I'd been doing it for so long and I was getting a bit sick of it.

"Then I injured my anterior cruciate ligament and was out from March until December.

"I thought 'that's it. Someone's telling me to stop doing it'."

Thankfully for the GB team, the lull was short lived and Stevenson was quick to rediscover her focus.

"A friend said to me 'maybe someone's trying to test you to get through it and focus on the Olympics'," she explained.

Stevenson has a renewed focus

"That's what got me through it. I wanted to try and see, if I did get through, if there was anything else for me."

With form and focus restored, Stevenson has a gold medal in her sights. But she is quick to identify her biggest threat.

"Anyone who comes up against the Chinese girls in the first few rounds will be worried," she said.

"China are the only ones I'm worried about - I'm not really worried about anybody else."

And while the likes of Paula Radcliffe and Darren Campbell are likely to steal the headlines, Stevenson is happy to compete away from the media glare.

"I'm just trying to concentrate on the gold - that comes first", she said. "If people want to focus on other sports that's fine by me."