GOLD is the only medal defending Olympic Laser champion Paul Goodison will be happy with but he says all the pressure is from himself.

Goodison, known as ‘Goody’ to his teammates, claimed bronze at last year’s test event, the Weymouth and Portland International Regatta, and narrowly missed out on the podium at last month’s Skandia Sail for Gold regatta.

The sailing star now has his sights set on resuming his spot at the top of the leaderboard, a comeback he previously achieved after converting the ‘depression’ of fourth place at the Athens 2004 Games into an Olympic gold four years later.

He said: “I put a great deal of pressure on myself to get the most out of myself.

“Whether I'm the defending champion or a non-medallist the pressure is still the same, you want the best performance on the day.

“I wouldn’t have done another four years if I wasn’t aiming to get another gold medal.

“I want to be the best in the world, I want to get the best out of myself and I’m sure that if I perform to my ability I will be getting another gold medal.”

The 34-year-old dinghy star, who lives in Wyke Regis with his Olympian girlfriend Saskia Clark, finds inspiration every morning when he looks out of his windows onto his competition ground.

He said: “The best thing for me about living here in Weymouth is I can literally open my curtains every morning and see the Olympic water.

“It’s quite inspirational, I guess, and motivating.

“When you look back at China, to do a good couple of weeks’ training meant leaving here at 6am, catching a flight for 11 hours, waiting at the airport for another three-hour flight, then a transfer to your accommodation.

“We also had to deal with the food not being so great.

“Whereas now I literally get on my bike and within 10 minutes I’m down here at the sailing centre.

“It makes an absolutely massive difference in that way.

“I guess the only worry is to stay excited and fresh in Weymouth as you can get a little bit stale spending so much time here and not going away and coming back fresh.

“That’s a bit of a challenge but a much nicer one than travelling to China like last time.”

Goodison is happy that Clark is competing in the home Games, and that she too is capable of winning gold in the 470 dinghy event with helm Hannah Mills.

He said: “Having a partner involved in the sport makes it a whole lot easier and for Saskia to have had such a great year so far makes it a lot more exciting with us both going into the Games with very realistic chances again.”

He described the World Champion 470 Girls’ whirlwind success as ‘amazing’ and added: “It was really tough when Sas stopped sailing with Sarah (Ayton) this time last year but the turnaround has been amazing. Hannah is a fantastic person to be around, she’s great fun and the results speak for themselves.”

Goodison described the close-knit Skandia Team GBR team as ‘one big happy family’ and the ‘strongest unit’ among the countries’ competing at the sailing events.

He said: “A lot of that comes from the fact we’ve all shared a lot of experiences together I guess.

“Ben (Ainslie) being the old boy back from 1996, then Iain (Percy) and Ben from Sydney. We’ve all spent a lot of time together, we’re all great friends and I think it’s that great bond that keeps us tight and makes us do so well.”

Far from dashing off to the capital, Yorkshire-born Goodison has pledged to stay in the borough when his competition ends on August 5, to support his teammates.

He is looking forward to celebrating with family and friends after his medal race but not before.

Goodison said: “At the end of the day it’s a job, you’re here to train and win.

“It’s got to be no distraction and I’ve got to be fully focused.

“I will kind of shut myself away a little bit but when it’s all done it will be exciting to celebrate and to party with friends and family.

“Looking back at the Games at both Athens and China, a great deal of people turned out to watch and it was good fun.

“At the test event last year, when we did have our days off and managed to get up onto the Nothe to watch, the atmosphere was fantastic.

“It was a super, nice place to be as long as you didn’t get too sunburnt.

“The racing was so close it was exciting to watch.”

He added: “It’s pretty hard not to think about Rio, it’s a long, long way off and at the moment all the energy and focus is really on here in Weymouth in August.

“I guess after that I will take a couple of months off and decide what’s next but the Olympics is such a special event it’s hard not to get drawn towards it.”