Speaking exclusively to insidethegames, Jevans revealed her belief that Team GB has every right to be confident ahead of the London 2012 Olympic Games and that performing in front of a home crowd can inspire them to greater success.

"If you look at any number of sports where we haven't been competitive, and then since we've won the Olympic bid we've received funding, we've been able to have athletes train full-time as opposed to part-time," Jevans said.

"We're competitive now at handball when we only had a few players in 2008.

"We've got a full team in gymnastics which is the first time since 1992 and we only just qualified then.

"If you look at the medals we've got in athletics – Dai Greene [in the 400 metres hurdles] coming through – so across the events, if you look at weightlifting with Zoe [Smith], there's a chance there again – who'd have thought we'll have a British weightlifter?

"There's taekwondo...one could go on.

"We're in great shape.

"The team still has to perform, but I think they're focused.

"They've got a good coaching structure around them and they've had funding from the Government, which I think is important.

"It's a different pressure.

"When you go out on that field of play and you want to succeed there's always pressure.

"There is, without question, an added element when you're representing your country but as much as that adds to the pressure, it can be incredibly inspirational.

"I've been lucky enough to play in front of a home crowd for my country and it makes a huge difference.

"If you get down or you make an error the crowd is there behind you, urging you on.

"There is an added pressure but as well as that, it's an incredible advantage to have the crowd behind you."


Jevans also spoke of the success of the North Greenwich Arena as a test event and revealed that the athletes' feedback had been entirely positive.

"It's [the North Greenwich Arena] been fantastic," she said.

"It was amazing – it gave us a taste of what it will be like for 2012.

"On Tuesday there were just over 6,000 here and we're going to have 16,000 at Games time and it just showed you the atmosphere that's going to be created by the home team performing in front of a home crowd.

"I thought the venue looked great.

"And for us, from a testing perspective, the equipment was good, the athletes were very happy and the lighting was good so, all in all, it was a pretty big high.

"The momentum's building and when you wake up and it's 2012, it focuses the mind.

"It was the first test event we've done in 2012 and it was our biggest one in the sense of 40,000-plus spectators.

"This event has [fulfilled expectations], actually.

"If you think about how gymnastics has grown, we haven't had a full team since the 1992 Olympic Games, we haven't really had medal prospects.

"We've had Beth [Tweddle] – but they've been individual ones – and Louis Smith but now we've got a very solid team and their performance has matched with what the team has produced.

"But that doesn't mean for one second that we're going to stop working or stop looking to improve.

"We've learned little things.

"The feedback you want is from the athletes and they've come back to us and said 'the equipment has performed well, the facilities are good, the temperature has been right'.

"The training venue has also performed well.

"They love the arena, they love the atmosphere, they can't wait for 2012, they said the equipment has performed well, the transport has been on time...

"I think if there was one thing they wanted to look at it was just the temperature in the training venue which for the first couple of days was slightly cold but we've now amended that – we've got the feedback and that's now right."


On Tuesday evening, the British men's gymnastics team qualified a full team – comprising of Louis Smith, Kristian Thomas, Daniel Keatings, Ruslan Panteleymonov, Daniel Purvis and Max Whitlock (pictured left to right) – for the Summer Olympics for the first time since Barcelona 1992, and Jevans believes they are now well positioned as a result of their experiences.

"Speaking to Louis Smith, I don't think he stopped smiling for about 30 minutes, I think it means the world to them," Jevans said.

"In my mind, there's certainly an irony: that they didn't qualify in Tokyo [World Championships] has certainly turned out to be a blessing in disguise because normally in January, in a cycle of peaks and troughs, you would not be peaking in any shape or form or looking to perform at this time of year, particularly if you're a gymnast.

"They had to, one, be fit and able to perform at a time frame they normally wouldn't have to and, two, they came out here and had to perform under great pressure.

"One fall, and their Olympic dreams were over.

"I think they are just in immeasurably better shape mentally than they'd have been even a few days ago."

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