Captain Meadows delighted to set the tone for Great Britain in Doha

From David Jordan, Sportsbeat, in Doha

 JENNY Meadows led by example for Great Britain at the World Indoor Athletics Championships and then issued a rallying cry to the 37-strong squad in Doha.

CAPTAIN MARVEL: Jenny Meadows storms home in the 800m heats to set the tone for Great Britain on day one in Doha (Getty Images)

Meadows, the world 800m bronze medallist, is the captain of Great Britain in the Qatar capital and set the tone on day one of competition, storming through the 800m heats in the fastest qualifying time.

The 28-year-old was handpicked by UKA head coach Charles van Commenee to lead the troops in the Persian Gulf as the Dutchman overlooked the likes of world heptathlon champion Jessica Ennis in favour of the ‘Pocket Rocket'.

Meadows has gone from strength to strength since clinching bronze in Berlin last summer behind controversial South African athlete Caster Semenya and saw her funding boosted ahead of the new season.

Judging by her performance in the ASPIRE Dome, the Wigan-based athlete is brimming with confidence at present and Meadows revealed she is desperate to let that rub off on her teammates.

"Charles did a rallying speech and it was very good actually and very humbling," said Meadows. "I did my own speech as well as team captain and I just talked about what I had done.

"This is my ninth year in the GB team so I have the experience of all those competitions.

"But also I talked about Berlin and how I decided there was no loner time to make excuses.

"I might want more confidence or more this or that but I realised that I had everything I needed and I took responsibility for my performance.

"You have to own your own performance and hopefully that is something the rest of the team can buy into."

And while Meadows hopes to be an inspiration to her teammates in the short-term, she also believes the GB squad is on track for London - where UKA chief executive expects an athletics medal haul of ten.

"As a team we are progressing towards 2012 so everyone has their own aims to help them on that road - some are looking for medals and some for personal best performances," added Meadows.

"It is very nice to be singled out by Charles [as someone who owned their own performance] and people expect certain things of me but I want things to be expected of me."

Aviva has been proud to have helped and supported the Aviva GB & NI junior, senior and disability teams as they prepare for all major events and championships since 1999. Visit www.aviva.co.uk/athletics for more information