Eurosport sat down and talked with Team GB heptathlete medal hope Kelly Sotherton.

ES - Why did you choose Formia for your training camp, two weeks before the start of the season?

KS - We came to Formia because the facilities are so fantastic, when you have people like Carolina Kluft and Yelena Isinbayeva training here that shows that it is a great facilityand it's not too far away from home, that's why we chose it as a team this spring.

ES - You changed your coach shortly before the World Championships in Osaka in August 2007. What has changed since then?

KS - I had quite a big injury throughout the winter, so I wasn't able to throw or run. I had to change all the things I needed to prepare for the Javelin, so I did a lot of strength and conditioning on my shoulder. Even though I haven't thrown as much as I should have done, the way it has been going with my new coach, we have been implementing loads of simplistic ideas, so I have gone back to how I was throwing before Athens (Olympic bronze medal). It is a lot simpler, I can understand it and it is going a lot better and I am very optimistic about how it is going to go this summer.

ES - You have said that 40 metres in the javelin is necessary to be on the podium in Beijing. Are you confident you are going to accomplish that?

KS - Yes, definitely, because my personal best is just under 41 metres anyway, so I think when I can throw 40 metres, which I know I can, that will give me more opportunities, a bigger chance of winning the gold medal, not just being on the podium. I got on the podium with 30 metres last year, so 40 metres, without Carolina (Kluft) there, provides an opportunity to win a gold medal.

ES - What do you think the heptathlon scene has lost with Kluft leaving the stage?

KS - The heptathlon has changed over the last 4-5 years with her being in it, so people are more supportive of each other than previously, it is such a shame that she isn't in it (anymore), but I don't think that it is going to be forever. I think she'll always come back to it, I don't think her heart can be totally pulled away from heptathlon. I hope she could still be in Beijing. I won't be certain she is not going to be there until I get to the start list and I see her name isn't there, that's when I'll believe that she is not doing it, because she is probably prepared for every eventuality. I think it's a great loss, but someone else has to shine through now, and hopefully be as successful as her, and hopefully it's me (laughs).

ES - What are your goals for Beijing?

KS- I am attempting to win the gold medal, simple as that, but there are six or seven other girls who can easily reach the podium and strive for gold, so I could score 6.6 (6600 points), 6.7, 6.8, but there will be four or five of us who can do the same thing. It is so competitive below Carolina so it is wide open, there is no clear favourite, but we will know in a few weeks time who will be the contenders after the first heptathlons of the year, so it is going to be interesting to see how people are going to approach the competition knowing that Kluft will not be there.

ES - Which discipline do you feel most confident in at the moment?

KS - Definitely my running, my running has gone very well - I've changed a lot about my dynamics in running. I've proved it in Valencia (at the World Indoors), where I ran a great 800 metres (PB indoors 2:09.95), so my running is going well and my speed is going well. Running is probably my number one strength at the moment, which then helps in the other events. If you are strong in your running, then the other four events generally are strong as well.

ES - What are you looking most forward to in Beijing, other than your competition?

KS - Just the cultural differences that are going to be there, obviously what happened in the news over the last few months, about the conflicts that are going on there, human rights, just going to China and being a tourist over a couple of days will be interesting. But since I have already been to the Olympics, I know how it works, so I'll be better prepared. What is good in the Olympics is that you meet a lot of people from all around the world, you can make new friends. Plus, it is so far away from home, it is so nice to be somewhere else, so far away from home at an Olympics, it is exciting.

ES - What does it mean to you to be an Olympian?

KS - Not many people can say they have been an Olympian, but then, being an Olympian and winning a medal, which I have done, is kind of special. I feel humble about my achievements, but I know going into the Olympics it means more to me because last time it all happened so quickly. This time I have prepared for four years to be here in the best shape I can. So, however I am going to perform, it is going to be a bit more special than Athens. It is like a footballer winning the World Cup, it is something that you can't really describe but it is such a great feeling and you know it is going to be such an anticlimax because you work so hard for this goal. How well you do is dependant on everything. It is good that is going to be such a crescendo, it is exciting.

ES - Bigger than Athens, but also more pressure?

KS - A lot more pressure than Athens because I am going to be one of the favourites to potentially take the gold medal, whereas I wasn't in Athens. I came from nowhere, so a lot more pressure, but enjoyable pressure. I strive under pressure, I don't usually buckle under it I am certainly looking forward to competing there.

ES - Any aspects off the track, that gives you negative feelings beforehand?

KS - I haven't really given too much thought to things happening around, probably most athletes wouldn't think too much about what is happening there. We are there to do sports and you shouldn't mix sports and politics, not at all. We are there to achieve a dream and that is what I am focused on.

ES - How can athletics polish its tarnished image?

KS - The only way I feel that we can clean up our sport is more vigorous testing in every country in the world, not just certain countries. For instance, my country is very tough regarding drug testing and we are tested all the time. Whereas somebody from maybe a country that is harder to get into, where you need a visa, Eastern Europe, there it is probably harder to get athletes tested. And then these results have to be published, so everybody can see who has been tested. So people see who has had negative tests. I would rather see who has been tested and when they were tested, so I would feel more satisfied knowing that they have been tested at certain points of the year. I think the results should be made public to everybody - that is my feeling. But I think it will take a long time, because the general public will always think that there are cheats in our sport. Unfortunately, the sport hasn't had the greatest press over the last twelve months, especially from the British side. All we can do is be clean and perform well.

ES - Is a two year ban not enough?

KS - I think definitely a six year ban; not a life ban, but a six-year-ban is enough to prevent somebody from doing it. But then also, if somebody is caught, six years is so long to come back after a ban, I think it is virtually impossible unless you are crazy to wait six years to compete. I think if you give a long enough ban that could be a bit more of a deterrent.

ES - How does it feel to compete against somebody who you know has taken drugs before?

KS - I have been in that situation, we have a heptathlete who has served a two year ban. I have mixed feelings about it: at the end of the day the person has taken drugs, but she served her ban, you know you have to see how they go after they served their ban, but I still think, if you have done it once, you might be more likely to be doing it again, that's how I feel personally about it. It's quite hard to swallow when somebody beats you and they have taken drugs and they win a medal ahead of you, that's quite hard to take. But if they have done it clean, passing their drugs test, that's fine for me.

ES - What Carolina Kluft's idea of putting a GPS in every training bag and asking it to be switched on for a few hours a day.

KS - I still think that's kind of unfair, if every sport in the world had the same thing, I would feel that was fair, and every country, but it doesn't happen that way. I already give my time, days and hours to IAAF and my federation, so they know where I am at certain times of the day, but if you have a GPS in your bag and you forget to turn it off what happens? Also you don't know who else might be able to catch that signal. Maybe it is not only IAAF or WADA or whoever is checking you, it could be someone else, which could lead to unwanted effects. It was a good idea initially, but there are too many flaws.

ES - Don't you think a device like that would be more practical in the case of last-minute changes in your schedule?

KS - What if the battery went off, you hadn't changed it and they came to look for you and they can't get you? So I'd rather, if I have to change my venue of training or have to go somewhere completely different, just text somebody. That's easier for me, cause there are too many flaws about having some high tech digital thing in your bag, because the battery could go, that's your responsibility, someone else could track where you are, and for somebody, let's say, like Carolina, who is such a high-profile athlete, somebody could find out where she was and start to stalk her. There are so many things like that.

ES - How did you get into Heptathlon?

KS - I started as an 800m runner and a long jumper when I was 10. I have always done a mixture of events and just fell into the event when I was 12 and I did a pentathlon. I won that and then it just progressed from there. So I have always done multi-events and have never thought about doing anything else yet. But after next year I think, heptathlon is going to be finished for me and I don't know yet whether I am going to run 400 or long jump. I don't know yet. I am basically going to go back to where I started from.

ES - Why athletics?

KS - I was very lucky, I had a great teacher at school and it just kind of naturally happened. I could beat the boys at school in running and jumping. I just did it because I liked it and I was good at it, but I played various sports, football, netball, gymnastics, I did lots of other sports as well as athletics.

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