All eyes will be on the rowing arena at Shunyi, near Beijing, tomorrow (August 15), when Coedpoeth's Tom James takes to the water as part of the British Olympics men's four.

And back home, Tom's fans will be tuning in in the hope of seeing Tom bring home gold.

The former King's School pupil takes his seat in the hotly-tipped four, who made it through to the final with the fastest semi-final time.

And Tom is in ebullient mood, vowing to shake off the spectre of British Olympic greats, Sir Steve Redgrave and Sir Matthew Pinsent.

He said: "To be honest, Steve and Matt and all that, that's history. We shouldn't let that bother us.

"This is a new four, racing different crews and it's up to us to make our own history.

"I've thought we've always had a chance of winning the gold, but you have to get to the final first and that's not easy.

"Well we're there now, so that chance is a realistic opportunity, but there's still everything to do to make it happen.

"This is us four guys. It is a new GB boat and it is different opposition. It is a different Olympics and we should not let the history like that bother us.

"Someone has to start a new era and hopefully it will be us."

The men's four final will be on Saturday morning, and will be broadcast live on BBC TV.

Send your messages of support for Tom and his team by leaving a comment below