Greene 'stronger than ever' ahead of world defence

The Welshman added World Championships gold to his collection in Daegu 2011, having already collected European and Commonwealth titles the year before.

But Greene fell just sort of adding an Olympic medal to this haul at London 2012 as he crossed the line in fourth, the same position the 26-year-old finished as part of a Great Britain quartet in the 4x400m relay – just 0.13 seconds off a podium finish.

Greene revealed that knee surgery that winter effected his Games but as he bids to hold on to his world title this August he is adamant all that is behind him.

"The winter has gone very well," said Greene. "I've never trained at such a volume and I've only missed one's week training, which was back in January and was due to a sore hip.

"Compare that with last year, when I had a knee operation, missed three weeks in the autumn, and when I did finally get back, I couldn't put in the work that I wanted to for the summer season.

"Let's just say that I've never felt this strong or this good at this stage of the season before.

"The pain and disappointment of 2012 is now behind me and I'm feeling like a normal, healthy athlete again, which is very exciting."