I'm a very keen baker; I pride myself on my cakes. I go along the classic sponge line, but I like to jazz it up: I've made some psychedelic birthday cakes.

People assume that you need to run fast to get to optimum fitness, but the truth is endurance lifting makes you stronger and leaner.

My grandfather died before I was born, so I never had the chance to speak with him about his father. But I learned about him from books.

It was when my American coach Dan Pfaff came over from the States in 2009 and started working with me that we really began to look at my diet. He decided I was eating too many carbohydrates, so I cut back on bread. Over the next year I lost weight and became leaner.

People forget that track and field is one of the hardest sports because we compete against all the world. There are many sports when you are up against only 15 or 20 countries.