“In that context, I can’t really explain what it would mean to me [to win],” he says. “It’s so hard.

“I remember once trying to tell my Granddad - he was ex-Air Force – and I was trying to understand how it must have felt for him during that time.

“It made me realise that unless you’ve actually been there and experienced it, there’s really no adjective to describe it and how amazing it feels.

“The English language just isn’t adequate.”

It’s a bold statement from an athlete who’s rarely short of words, but Rushgrove, who has cerebral palsy, wasn’t always willing to talk.

In fact he credits his years at boarding school in Hampshire, which he attended from the age of 10, with his radical transformation.

“They offered me the specialist support I required to gain the skills and confidence I have today,” he says.

“One of the biggest problems I had was my dyslexia.

“People didn’t seem to cope with that very well, but when I started in Hampshire, I was in a class of 10 which was amazing.

"I credit them for so much - they were the people who introduced me to sport and made me the Ben I am now.

"Before that I wasn’t really any good at sport, although it’s all relative - it’s hard before you’ve been officially classified and you’re competing against people without a disability.”

Having been encouraged to do so, Rushgrove (pictured) got involved in a range of sports at school and regularly helped out in a coaching and management role with football and hockey teams.

“I actually enjoyed that as much as competing,” he admits.

“It was the social interaction, and that’s probably why I chose to study sports at college.

“At boarding school we’d have free time in the evenings but none of us really wanted that so I always filled that gap with sport.

“There was a hugely diverse group of us with a variety of different disabilities.

“It’s probably given me a greater awareness of different conditions although I don’t necessarily think it’s made me a better team player.”

As one of 40 athletes selected to represent Aviva Great Britain and Northern Ireland in New Zealand, he has an integral team role to play.

While he might not necessarily consider that his strong point, his current training set-up under coach Rob Ellchuk in Bath – who, he says, “is more than just a coach, he’s a friend, too” - is invaluable in offering him that experience on a day to day basis.

“We’ve been really successful as a group,” he explains.

“The measure is the number of people that come back to the group even when they’ve been away for whatever reason.

“The other really nice thing about the group is the engagement we have - our training group is so varied with so many people with different skills, like PhD students, mechanical engineering students, trainee teachers and Bob Skeleton athletes!

“It’s good to have that range.

“They’re not all there because they want to be the next world record holder, but for what they get out of it each time they go.

“It is what it is. People really rally around one another and we all want each other to succeed.

“It works because Rob has built it that way."
 

Rushgrove (pictured) was one of the first UK-based athletes to work with Ellchuk.

He’d been talent spotted by UK Athletics at a National Disability Championships event in Blackpool, although he refuses to accept he was one of the best.

“I went to that event every year, and although I’m very competitive and love to win, we just used to have a bit of a laugh,” he says.

“For a start, our hotel was awful.

“Every year it was just rubbish, but when I turned up to the track I figured there must have been something else on that weekend because people didn’t turn up to race and it made me look good - even though I ran in walking trainers and swimming shorts.

“I actually think I borrowed a running top off one of the volunteers!”

Having returned to his hometown of Bath at the end of boarding college, Rushgrove went straight into university life and, with the help of UK Athletics, linked up with Ellchuk.

In spite of an injury-plagued career to date, he has never looked back.

Does he think he can regain the form that saw him clock his lifetime best for the 100m (12.35) in Beijing 2008 and 200m (24.86) in the 2007 Paralympic World Cup?

“Yes, I can go quicker, I’ve got to,” he says.

“My preparation for the World Championships to date has been far from ideal, but it’s not dissimilar to what I experienced pre-Beijing.

“The next 100 days are critical if I’m to be at my best when it matters most.

“People always say you should be the best you can every day.

“There’s nothing wrong with that, but we’ve all got flaws - we’re all human – and in my opinion you just need to be at your best when it matters most.

“If you look at my performance record, you’ll see that I’ve achieved that every time.”

All being well, medal success at the IPC Athletics World Championships will add weight to that argument and with less than two years to the London 2012 Paralympic Games, a second meeting with Royalty must be a possibility...

“So, as he drives off in his silver Mini, it prompts one final question - what does he actually remember about his first visit to Buckingham Palace?

“Well, I had a huge urge to do doughnuts when I drove into the grounds,” he laughs out loud (spinning the car round and round in a tight circle for those unfamiliar with the terminology).

And that sums him up perfectly.

Confident, verging on daring, outgoing and perhaps a little bit crazy - but definitely an athlete you’d want on your team.

Katy Anderson is UKA’s media lead for Paralympic performance. Read her interviews first on www.insideworldparasport.biz thanks to UK Athletics, the National Governing Body of the premier Olympic and Paralympic sport