At the very moment the bow of Matthew Pinsent's victorious coxless four crossed the finish line in Athens, Alex Partridge, the man who should have been there but wasn’t, began to think about Beijing.

For Patridge, who suffered a collapsed lung five weeks before the 2004 Games, there was no victory parade, no tears of joy, and most importantly, no gold medal. He could be bitter, maybe haunted by images of what might, and perhaps should have been. But ahead of the Beijing Games he is at pains to point out those are thoughts that have never troubled him.

"When those guys crossed the line, I said to myself 'this is finished now. I'm no longer injured and not going to Athens'. Everything since then has been about Beijing.

"Of course seeing them win gave me motivation, especially throughout the really tough times in training. It has given me a lot more excitement and emotion when I'm racing and hopefully that rubs off on the people around me. But I want to write my own story now, whatever that is. It's a new chapter for me. "

The 27-year-old has seen the gold medal that was won by Ed Coode, his replacement. He's even allowed himself to touch it, but ahead of Beijing he is understandably more determined than ever to to win one of his own.

Soon after the disappointment of Athens and the retirement of Pinsent, Partridge became the cornestone of the four that rowed to 27 consecutive wins between 2005 and 2007. But after the boat came fourth in the World Championships last September, Jürgen Grobler, the head coach, began to experiment with fresh combinations and as a result Patridge has, once again, been left out of the Olympic coxless four.

However, Partridge will not miss out this time on the Games because he has been chosen as bow for the eight but Grobler has made clear that the four, as in Sir Steve Redgrave and Pinsent's days, is Britain's leading entry.

"I'm really proud to be in the eight," Patridge said. "It's a misconception to say the eight is less of a boat or less of an event.

"I'm really excited about being in the boat, because I feel we have a real chance of winning a medal and being right up there competing for gold - that's what I want to do, whether that be with a four, or an eight, or even a single.

"If I was competing in any event I would just be proud to be going to the Olympics and having a shot at fulfilling most people's dreams."

He may be without an Olympic gold medal, but what is apparent is the absence of the barest hint of resentment. On the day of the final in Athens, Partridge was a guest in the studio of Radio Five Live where he watched the race, trying to transmit his emotions across a thousand crackling miles.

He goes to Beijing safe in the knowledge that he will at least have some control over his own detiny this time around, although is careful to point out he expects no special treatment from the Olympic Gods, because of what happened four years ago.

"I think I've been very silly to think the Olympics owed me anything," he said. "If you think that then you are never going get anywhere, because that's all part of sport.

"It's part of sport at the Olympics, it's part of sport across any event. People miss out because of injury all the time and teams go on and win and that's just part of life unfortunately.

"After these Games there are going to be new Olympic champions in almost every event, and they will be the reigning champions for the next four years and that will all be a different story.

"So whatever people say, stories leading up to this Olympics are very much irrelevant to me. I'm just going to do my best, and because of the strength in the British rowing team, our best is going to be pretty good."

If all goes to plan Partridge will have another chance to win an Olympic medal in August. As he prepares for the start of a possible Olympic final, you might think his mind might go back to the past, but he insists his focus will be on the task at hand.

"The past won't come into it at all," he said. "Before that race I will be thinking about what our coaches want us to do, I will be thinking about the training we have been doing over the last four years and everything we need to do to win that race.

When asked if winning gold, after all he has been through, would mean more, he said: "Of course - it will mean everything to me."