Sarah Stevenson is confident she can overcome a serious knee injury to earn her place on the Great Britain Olympic Taekwondo squad.
Doncaster-born Stevenson - the current world champion and a bronze medallist in the 2008 Beijing Olympics - underwent surgery in February to repair cruciate ligament damage sustained at a training camp in Mexico. The 29-year-old has until the end of May to prove her fitness ahead of the final selection for the London Games.
Stevenson - who overcame great personal difficulties by claiming her world title despite both parents battling serious illness - is in a positive frame of mind. In her Olympic diary for the Guardian, she wrote: "Things really have been going well, I am pleased to report.
"I have been working hard in the gym and making lots of progress with my training, doing a few personal bests with my strength coach.
"After the injury setback, it is good to be hitting and exceeding the targets we set.
"I have started kicking again and running, which is obviously great.
"Thanks to the hard work of the medical team working on my knee, who I can't thank enough, all the boring stuff is out of the way now, so it's good to be back doing what I do best: kicking things.
"The aim now is to get me back into full-on training and so far so good, it's all going really well.
"I'm excited, happy and pleased to be getting on with it."