IN ANOTHER life Mark Hunter still has his feet up on a Californian beach – but after packing in the good life for another tilt at Olympic gold the Leander rower has vowed to book his 2012 Olympic spot at the first time of asking.

The 32-year-old called time on his career after claiming lightweight gold with Zac Purchase in Beijing and headed off to the States to coach at the University of California.

The calling of a home Games proved too much though and Hunter dusted down his oars last year to make a remarkable return alongside Purchase that ended with the pair claiming World Championship gold in November.

And after getting back to the form that saw him claim gold in Beijing, Hunter is determined to rubber stamp his 2012 place with a repeat showing at August’s worlds in Slovenia.

He said: “It was an incredible journey to have a year off after Beijing and the highs of winning there and then chilling out and being comfortable with life and then deciding to come back.

“To then come back and win – and win in the style we did – was absolutely brilliant and was a great storybook ending to the season and it puts us in a great position for London 2012.

“When you’re on your knees in training camps and at the depths of where you are in train-ing, you always look back and think I could have been doing so and so.

But at the end of the day I enjoy competing.

“To come back and win in London would be the best thing ever because I come from the East End so it would be a massive.

“This year is Olympic qualification at the World Championships in Bled in the summer – that is really important – and then we have three World Cup races before that which will guide our performance and see where we are and if our training is working well.

“It is about maintaining our position, we don’t want to get too carried away, we’re not going to destroy everybody this year but it is about putting ourselves in a good position for London so we can do the job when it matters.”

With London’s preparations for the Games bang on schedule Britain’s athletes will have the advantage of getting to grips with the venues long before the Olympic flame is lit next summer.

But after rising to the occasion in Beijing, Hunter insists he and Purchase will attempt to keep their own 2012 stage sacred by steering clear of Dorney Lake over the next 18 months. Hunter said: “With Beijing we didn’t get to see the event until we turned up so I don’t want to get too familiar with Dorney.

“I know it is just down the road from where we train but we won’t be going there too often because you don’t want to kill that excitement of turning up at the Olympic course and the grandstands and the banners and the Olympic logo everywhere.

“You don’t want to spoil that because that is the real thing that kicks you into gear, knowing that you’ve come to work and come to play on the most important lake where we will win or fail so we don’t want to be there too often and ruin it, we want to keep the excitement now.”

BMW London 2012 Performance Team, an initiative designed to provide Team GB and ParalympicsGB with support as they prepare for the Games. To follow the performance journey of the 25 athletes visit www.bmw.co.uk/london2012