Martyn Rooney could be a marked man as he chases his medal dream at the 2016 Olympics

FRANCK FIFE/AFP/Getty Images

An Olympic medal is all Martyn Rooney has ever dreamed about and this year he could yet end up with two.

Rooney was part of the men’s 4x400m British relay team to finish fourth at the Beijing Olympics but looks likely to be upgraded to a medal after Denis Alekseyev, who ran the bronze-winning anchor leg for Russia, tested positive last month when his sample was reanalysed.

The 29-year-old Croydon athlete is confident a British quartet can force a medal in Rio this summer.

“An Olympic medal is all I’ve ever dreamed of getting and if I’d won it on the track I would have cried my eyes out,” he said. “Should we get that bronze, which I believe is rightfully ours, I’m not sure how I’d feel. I’d said in the past I might have a tattoo of my medal so I might still do that!”

First, though, Rooney (right) needs to qualify and in Birmingham this weekend he tackles one of the most competitive events at the British Championships in the 400metres.

The event doubles up as the Olympic trials with the top two going through, if they meet the qualifying standard, with another spot available on a discretionary basis.

Rooney, ranked fourth in the country, picked up a stomach bug from his 10-month-old son, Jack, at the start of the week but is upbeat as he prepares to take on the likes of Matthew Hudson-Smith and Rabah Yousif. Having struggled to third a year ago when not 100 per cent, he has promised: “I’m not going to leave it up to the selectors again. I feel I’m coming into shape at the right time.”

After a dip when his coach Rana Reider relocated to Holland, Rooney hopes to add another British title to his CV. “It took my wife to tell me to grow up and kick me up the bum,” he said. “Now I’m in a good place.”

Tomorrow (BBC RB 2pm), Sunday (BBC2 1pm)

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