ED McKeever has been described as the Usain Bolt of canoe sprinting and the 28-year-old is confident that he has what it takes to repeat the Jamaican’s heroics at London 2012.

McKeever, who competes in the K1 200m event, was due to start his bid for gold in the heats on Friday morning (9am).

To prepare for these Games the Bradford on Avon canoeist has spent the last week at a warm weather training camp in Barcelona.

McKeever won gold at the World Championships in 2010 and again at last year’s European Championships meaning he goes into the capital as one of the favourites for gold.

But the Wiltshire paddler insists there is no danger of nerves getting the better of him as his Olympic debut approaches.

“I’m not feeling pressure at all,” he said. “The coaches and I have been very strong and we don’t feel pressure like that. We just watch each other and want to do better.

“It’s one of those events where the racing is so tight that anyone can have a flier on the day, and hopefully it will be me who does that.

“Personally, I would love to be contributing to the overall medals for Team GB, as would the other guys.

“I wouldn’t say being called the Usain Bolt of canoe and kayak sprinting is pressure.

“I’m kind of used to that comment now and it makes me laugh a little bit.

“It’s not a tag that helps me when I get to the start line, or strikes fear into my competitors, but hopefully the crowd do a bit of that for me.”

The noise at Eton Dorney for the past week and a half has been nothing short of spectacular as the home faithful cheered on Team GB’s rowers to a staggering nine-medal haul.

But now it is the turn of the canoeists and McKeever is hoping that the supporters prove the difference when it comes to the sharp end of the race.

“It would be fantastic to hear the ‘Dorney Roar’, especially for us as they’ll be pretty much for the whole of our race rather than just the last bit,” he added.

“It would be great and we’d like to give them something to roar about.

“Racing at the world championships last year is the most similar thing we’ve done.

“The crowd there was about 30,000, and they were pretty noisy, so I imagine it would be a similar thing.”