The 25-year-old visually impaired sprinter from Londonderry (pictured top, in green) is currently finalising his preparations for the London 2012 Paralympics where he will be strong favourite to defend the T13 100m and 200m titles he won in Beijing in 2008, smashing the world record in both.

But Smyth admitted he is already thinking ahead to the Rio Olympics after he set a personal best of 10.22sec last year – only four one-hundredths of a second outside the 10.18 qualifying time for this year's Olympics.

"I want to give it another really good shot over the next four years and get what I didn't get this year," said Smyth, who has less than 10 per cent of normal sight because of his rare Stargardt's condition.

"At one stage, I was wondering whether I wanted to keep going but I want to reach my potential and I haven't done that yet."


Smyth (pictured above, in green) became the first Paralympic athlete to compete at a European Championships in Barcelona in 2010, and while he also competed at the able-bodied World Championships in Daegu last year, along with fellow Paralympian Oscar Pistorius of South Africa, he said both competitions serve as good preparation for the Rio Olympics.

"The European and World Championships are good stepping stones to try and compete at the Olympics," he said.

"I will be aiming to compete in those events in the run-up to Rio as well my normal Paralympic competitions."

Smyth has based himself largely in Florida for the past three years in a training group featuring American sprint star Tyson Gay, but he is yet to work out his coaching arrangements after the Paralympics because his current mentor, Stephen Maguire, is moving to take up a new role with Scottish Athletics following the Games.

"I don't know yet for sure what I'm doing after the Paralympics," said Smyth, who is currently at a pre-Paralympics Team Ireland training camp in Portugal.

"I'm looking at probably going back to the States and hopefully getting a new coaching situation sorted out with a view towards aiming for Rio."

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