Schoolboy rower Liam Downes hopes to compete in the Olympics (photo: Chris Kay)

Britain’s Olympic hopes would weigh heavily on the shoulders of any athlete – especially a schoolboy. But at 6ft4in, rowing champion Liam Downes believes he’s built to take the strain.

While London prepares to host the 2012 Games, Downes, 17, is already looking ahead to the following tournament in Rio. “This is the last year I can qualify in junior competitions,” said Downes. “But hopefully I can go on to compete at the Olympics.”

Next month sees the second round of trials for the national junior rowing team at Eton, and Downes hopes that he can improve on his first stage performance in February.

“I wasn’t at my best in the first round as I had a bit of an injury, but I’ve been training hard and hopefully I can go flat out,” he said.

Training hard is an understatement. He fits in 20 hours of rowing and weight-training each week around school lessons, and while other pupils his age spend their evenings trying to sneak into pubs and clubs, Downes is in bed by 8pm.

He wakes at 5.30am every Tuesday and Thursday to squeeze in practice sessions at the Lea Rowing Club, before cycling over to study for his A-Levels at the Mossbourne Community Academy in Hackney Downs.

It was at Mossbourne where Downes first took up rowing two years ago, although it wasn’t plain sailing from the start: “I hated it at first – but some friends started doing it at the weekends, and convinced me to come along as I was tall.”

This September, the school will open a rowing academy offering sixth-form places to potential rowing champions.