The 24-year-old from Blackpool, who won the 2007 women’s wheelchair London Marathon, picked up silver in the 1500 metres in Beijing after claiming a controversial bronze in the 5,000m.

Woods was originally awarded silver for coming second in the 5,000m but a protest arising from a multiple collision in the final straight of the race led to the final being re-staged just four days later, where Woods won bronze at the second time of asking.

However, Woods claimed that she was delighted to claim a silver and a bronze medal in the Chinese capital but is aiming to go one better in front of a home crowd in London.

Woods told insideworldparasport: "I went to Beijing, my first Paralympics, and came away with a silver and a bronze which I never expected to do.

"But my real dream now is to win gold and to win gold in London would be the ultimate thing so now everything I do is geared towards winning gold in London.

"I’m not sure what events I’ll be competing in at London yet but it will probably be the 1500m and 5000m again, and maybe the marathon too.

"But at this stage, it’s just about building my experience heading into 2012 because I’m still quite young compared with some of the top athletes."

Woods also revealed that ahead of London, the 2011 IPC Athletics World Championships in New Zealand are a big goal for her in preparation for the Paralympics.

She said: "Short term, it’s just about preparing for the World Championships which are in January in Christchurch.

"So I’ll race the rest of this summer on the track and then probably do a few autumn marathons, maybe Chicago and New York.

"After that, I will just focus on getting myself into the best possible form for New Zealand before I really start looking ahead to London 2012."

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


Related stories
May 2010: UK Athletics head coach monitors progress at BT Paralympic World Cup
May 2010: Weir and Woods win in Manchester
February 2010: Weir and Woods back aiming for London Marathon glory