With or without an Olympic gold medal, Katherine Grainger will be remembered as one of the true greats of British rowing.

The three-time world champion has won almost everything in the sport, but there is one thing missing from the Scot’s trophy cabinet – an Olympic gold medal.

She has twice come within a whisker of realising her dream, winning silver medals in Sydney and Athens, but Grainger’s restlessness will not be stilled until she has won sport’s ultimate prize.

The winning of a first Olympic gold would mark the end of the rainbow for the 32-year-old Glaswegian and it has been a long road. Grainger’s world champion quadruple scull will go into Beijing with arguably Britain’s best chance of rowing gold.

With the countdown to the Games well underway, she spoke to Times Online and gave us an insight into her preparations, her pre-race routine and what winning gold would mean.

What was your earliest Olympic memory?
I didn't watch any rowing until I took it up at university in 1993 so the first Olympics that I remember watching the rowing events was in 1996 - the one before my first Games.

As a kid, I remember watching the track and field mainly, especially the 100 metres races in the 1980s.

What are the main lessons you have learned your experiences at the Sydney and Athens Games?
That coming second is good but not good enough, for a start. I was so young and inexperienced when I went to Sydney that everything was new but eight years on I am much more savvy.

I know the job I am there to do and I am confident that whatever is thrown up I know how to respond.

In the run-up to the Games do you find have to stop yourself dreaming of Olympic gold?
We're not shy about what we are aiming for.

Of course we are going to Beijing to win given that we have won the past three World Championships and I would love a gold medal above everything else. But at this stage we have not been thinking directly about the Olympics, more the processes that we need to make to get there, how to give the boat extra speed.

We've only had a settled boat for the past few weeks and so it has been hard to visualise the Olympics. Now that they have selected the same four as last year, we can begin to dream.

Do you have any superstitions before a race?
No. There are so many things that could change, such as the condition of the water, the wind, the time of the race, moving lanes or whatever, that it would be impossible to fit in any superstitious things that you must do before a race.

Once you are on the water for your warm-up, do you talk to each other?
When we are warming up there is a lot of talking about what we are going to do but we have to be on the start line five minutes before the race and when we are there it is the quietest place you'll ever experience. Lots of things are happening around you, but the rowers tend to keep quiet with maybe only a few words specific to the occasion.

What goes through your head immediately before a big race?
Frances Houghton sits behind me and likes us to keep a simple focus. She'll say something like "think about those first three strokes". We just try to focus on making the right start; after that our experience of racing kicks in.

Who do you expect to be your main rivals?
Germany have never won less than a gold in the women's quad in the eight Olympics that the event has been contested, so they will always be the ones to beat. They came second to us at the World Championships. And China were the only crew to beat us last year so they will be tough, especially at home.

What are your plans after Beijing?
I'm writing a PhD on homicide and my supervisor is expecting to see me pretty soon after Beijing as I've neglected it a bit recently. But first I want to take a huge holiday somewhere without books.