GUEST BLOG: Double Olympic champion James Cracknell

By James Cracknell, speaking at a Cadbury Athlete Ambassador launch in London

IT JUST little over a year until the London 2012 Olympics and having the Games in this country is going to be phenomenal.

UNDER PRESSURE: Double Olympic champion James Cracknell knows all about the weight of expectation going into a Games and believes Great Britain's rowers will have plenty on them going into London next year

It doesn't register sometimes that it is a host country as well as a host city and the Olympics I've been to, it's not just the host city which gets the Olympic feel -- it is the whole of the country.

And it is important that the Olympics is a country-wide thing, and unlike, for example the football World Cup, where you have 23 players from England - Team GB at the Olympics will be 300 plus athletes of which every region and town will have someone from the area, or know someone, who will be going.

It's a much bigger feel for the team, and I think it's important that the next 15 months are used to make sure the whole country feels part of it and they will feel part of it when it's here.

I'm still very involved in rowing, both as a supporter and as an ex-athlete. We've got a hugely successful men's team, both as a heavyweight and a lightweight, and the women's team as well.

We've got lots of boats who give themselves a really good chance of winning, but there will be an equal number of people around the world thinking they have got a chance .

It's going to be down to who gets it right over the week of the Olympics - and on the day of their final - as to who is going to triumph.

On the day there is a current world champion and a favourite, but that means nothing - when you are on the start line, everyone can beat each other, everyone is fit and strong but it's the person that is mentally ready for it who will come through.

The first Olympics I went to was in Atlanta and Team GB won one gold medal, it was in rowing but in Beijing we were fourth in the medal table with 19 golds so that shows how far we've come.

So many athletes will be defending their titles like Rebecca Adlington and the rowers, we'll have world champions like Tom Daley and Sir Chris Hoy could be trying to beat Sir Steve Redgrave's total of five gold medals.

Almost every day there will be a household name either defending a title or who has a realistic chance of getting on top of the podium - it's going to be exciting for the whole country.

ALL TOGETHER NOW: James Cracknell joined Tim Brabants in London as the Olympic canoe champion was announced as a Cadbury Athlete Ambassador

And for rowing the historical success is a burden in one way but a challenge in another. Rowing is the only sport to have won a gold medal for Britain at every Olympics since 1984.

That's the longest stretch of any sport to claim gold - but with that comes expectation. That's the standard we expect and what they expect of themselves.

A silver or a bronze is not good enough for themselves either, and that means they will naturally raise their standards to gold being the lowest they will accept, and that helps everyone in that team to get better.

They won't just think ‘If I make the final that's great and if I get on the podium that's unbelievable' that's not going to be acceptable because there is a backlog of history of standing on the top step and that's the pressure you need all the time.

It's a positive pressure and you need to feel that pressure every day, and if you don't, you won't be able to raise yourself to the level required to win.