WHILE most of us are dreaming of a white Christmas, Katherine Grainger's dream of Olympic gold remains unhindered - and she insists it's just a matter of time before the British women start emulating the men.

Twice a world champion, Grainger just missed out with silver medals in Sydney and Athens. Her bid to go one better in Beijing in 2008 continued yesterday at British Rowing's first winter assessment trials in Boston.

She said: "I've got two silvers but it's still the gold I want because it is so special. It marks you out as an Olympic champion and that's why we are all still pushing.

"Any Olympic medal is a massive achievement, but within the medals the gold is valued so much more than silver and bronze - and rightly so. Once you've got that, there's nothing better."

At the moment the record books of British rowing is dominated by male successes. Grainger admits the women are lagging some way behind in both profile and achievement, but is confident that will change in the near future.

She said: "Steve Redgrave and Matthew Pincent are huge because they've gone back and got the gold medal time after time.

"I have no problem with that because I'm certain it will be a massive thing when the women's gold is won too.

"When it happens - and it will happen, it's just a matter of time - it will get all the attention it deserves."

Grainger, together with Marlow rowing partner Sarah Winckless, is perhaps the best bet to break the seal in the women's coxless fours. Both will be at their peak in Beijing, and Grainger admits it is a long wait to London 2012.

That said, she remembers the number of times Redgrave threatened retirement before it finally stuck.

She said: "With the Olympics, sometimes it's very hard to see the next four years. It's very much the end of an era when you get to the end of that four-year cycle. Four years again is a long slog because our training is so intensive.

"But I don't know what I will do after Beijing. People said if I got gold at Athens I would have stopped but I don't know if I would have. At the time I was going to stop regardless because I'd found that year the hardest year I'd done.

"And whatever medals you've won, when you start again the next year you are starting over. Of course you're aware of the success you've had but it doesn't help you day in day out.

"You don't get an easier ride and what you worry about is your next medal. I think if I got the gold I'd feel the same."