Double Olympic champion Kelly Holmes has revealed she is glad her protege Hannah England did not win gold at last year's World Championships.
England claimed a surprise silver medal in the 1,500 metres in Daegu, producing a storming finish in the home straight to finish just 0.28 seconds behind American winner Jennifer Simpson.
And while Holmes was delighted for England, the most successful graduate from her 'On Camp with Kelly' programme, the 41-year-old believes there would have been too much pressure on England at this summer's Olympics if she had claimed gold.
"She won the silver medal and could have won gold," Holmes said. "I'm glad she didn't because I think the pressure on her would have been immense.
"I'm personally glad she didn't win it because I know what it would have been like if she had. Now what it's given her is that edge inside her, whether she portrays it or not, that she can do it.
"She now just needs to get it right. She's focusing really well, she's kept herself out of the country most of the time training and got away from the media glare."
Holmes admits England still has to work on her self-belief to ensure last year's success is not a one-off, but is already working to help the next generation of British sportsmen and women achieve similar glory.
As a patron of the Jaguar Academy of Sport, Holmes was in Sheffield today to speak to the academy's Rising Stars of 2012 and pass on her expertise.
"I never had anything like this," she added. "I had my coaches and training partners, but actually having something that's given to you before you need it I think is really critical, because at some stage during your career there's always going to be a barrier or a setback that you have to deal with and you think 'I wish I knew that first'.
"This is why mentoring and guidance is important. We look wider than just the here and now, which athletes should be in, and with someone like Hannah, she missed out on two major championships when she didn't qualify from the trials and I have stamped down on her and all the others how much the trials are the only thing that matters in your year.
"The Olympics aren't there unless you get in the team, or any other championships, and that was proven by Hannah when she didn't get in the World Championships or Beijing Olympics because she messed up at the trials.
"Then her focus became on the trials and she absolutely slaughtered the last two trials and cemented her place at the Commonwealth Games and Daegu where she won her silver. I've always known she was capable of doing it, it was her having the belief."
Holmes won Olympic gold over 800 and 1,500m in Athens in 2004, and a year later was in Trafalgar Square to hear that London had been awarded the 2012 Games.
And now, with 100 days to go before the opening ceremony, she believes Britain's athletes will be glad they still have the time to fine tune their preparations.
"Everyone says to me I can't believe it's eight years since Athens," she added. "Anyone I meet for the first time still talk to me like it was yesterday. It's very much prominent in my mind and I talk about it every day.
"It's weird how time flies and we are at 100 days to go. One minute I'm standing in Trafalgar Square listening to the announcement and the next minute we are talking about 100 days to go.
"From our perspective it's crazily close, from an athlete's perspective I think they are glad they still have 100 days to go. They still have a lot of work to do and some haven't even got in the team yet. They can't be thinking of the Games, the Games is irrelevant to them until they qualify."
