While the rest of the country reminisces about last summer’s glorious Olympic Games, Wasps winger Tom Varndell has been dreaming about the future and a starring role at Rio 2016.
Fresh from a sprint session with 2012 100m semi-finalist Adam Gemilli, the 27-year-old winger will begin his own journey on the road to the Brazilian capital during Saturday’s J.P. Morgan Asset Management Premiership Rugby 7s Series.
The 27-year-old flyer is already recognised as one of the fastest players in the Aviva Premiership and would seem the perfect candidate if, as expected, Team GB harvest players from England’s top-flight to aid their medal bid in Brazil.
Varndell is no stranger to the shorter form of the game, taking to it like a duck to water in 2005 when he finished top try-scorer on debut as England won the opening World Series event in Dubai.
The former Leicester Tiger also knows how to handle the unique environment of a multi-sport event after helping England to win silver at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.
So as Britain basks in the memories of London 2012 Varndell is being realistic when he speaks about creating some Olympic moments of his own in three years’ time.
“Yeah I’d love to, in the next couple of years if I could play in a couple more tournaments with the World Club 7s taking place and get in to a couple more JP Morgan’s 7’s over the next two seasons then I’d love to,” he said.
“I was lucky enough to play in the Commonwealth in Melbourne; it’s the same sort of environment as the Olympics so I’d love to do it.
“If Ben Ryan or whoever is coaching the GB team is looking for players I think I’ve got a chance of making it.”
At present England’s 7s and XV sides operate as separate entities with their own squads and coaches but the Olympic Games squad is more likely to mirror that of the Commonwealths in 2006.
In addition to Varndell those Games also saw silver medals handed out to the likes of current Sale Sharks flanker David Seymour, England and Harlequins scrum-half Danny Care and Leicester Tigers full-back Mat Tait.
And after joining the rest of Britain in being gripped by the London Olympics Varndell is certain there will be a queue of Aviva Premiership players desperate to be present when the greatest show on earth rolls into Rio.
“To be fair since I first did it, it has become massive across the world with a lot of smaller nations taking part in competitions and it’s getting bigger and bigger,” he added.
“In terms of it being in the Olympics there is a bit of a buzz around it because with the Lion’s tour finished the next big thing is the Olympics with the 7s being part of that.
“A lot of XVs players are maybe trying to push their way in to the mix. It’s a pretty special thing to play in the Olympics.
“Having the 2012 Olympics in Great Britain was fantastic, the whole event was pretty special whether you were there in the stadium or watching it on TV you know it was pretty amazing. If you can be part of that in any way then it would be fantastic.”