Searle's comeback to the sport this year ended with him earning his first world medal since 1997 as part of the British eight that took silver in last month's World Championships in New Zealand.

But that achievement appears only to have whetted his appetite for more.

"My goal is to win gold in 2012 because I've won silver in 2010, with less than a year of full, flat-out training," said Searle, who is one of the featured athletes in the BBC News Channel's British Olympic Dreams programme.

"I need to be winning a gold medal.

"Otherwise it won't be as good as what I've just done."

Searle won Olympic gold in Barcelona in 1992 with brother Jonny and cox Garry Herbert, and bronze in a four in 1996, before retiring after the 2000 Olympics.

When he decided in October 2009 to make a comeback for London, he set a schedule of returning to the squad in 2010, aiming for a world medal in 2011 and "shooting for gold" in 2012.

But he has raised his expectations after being part of a Great Britain crew that was disappointed to lose to Germany by less than half a boat length in the World Championships final in Karapiro.

Searle trained on his own for much of last winter before breaking back into the GB squad in April, then taking part in the World Cup series through the summer.

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