VIEWING television coverage of the weightlifting at the 2008 Olympic Games was such a painful experience for Jo Calvino she could not bear to watch and had to switch it off.

It was galling, knowing she could have performed better than the Great Britain representatives, but wasn't given the chance.

So numbing was the experience, in fact, that the Croydon weightlifter vowed there and then that nothing would stop her competing in her "home town" when the Games came to London in 2012.

And despite still lacking any funding or invitation to join the elite training squad in Leeds, Calvino is now in a prime position to make that vow come true.

A regional aquatic manager for swimming and diving for sport leisure centre firm GLL, Calvino combines nearly a dozen training sessions a week with full-time work.

Based at Crystal Palace, her remit includes leisure centres from Reigate and Banstead to Barnet and Tower Hamlets to Harrow.

"I'm going to make the running in my own town - that's what I say," said a defiant-sounding Calvino, who admits she has a lot of positive inspiration from not being selected from Beijing.

"I did the qualifying standard, but they [the selectors] decided to take another lifter who had been injured and hadn't trained for a couple of months. That was hard to take.

"It's even harder when you have to watch it on TV and you know you could have got a better result.

"That was quite a painful thing to know, and when you have people saying to you "You should be there!" it was too much for me to sit and watch it.

"I just vowed 'This will not happen again'," said Calvino, who has competed at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne and Delhi.

There are just two Olympic spots up for grabs, but the Upper Norwood resident is confident, despite there being three or four who could qualify.

"I'm in a good position," said the 31-year-old. "If I get the 160 total I'm looking for at the European Championships that should be good enough to reach the final when it comes to the Olympics. The one good thing I've got is a lot of experience, compared to others."

Having attained the B standard in the U48kg weight class - something she considered, after the Commonwealth Games, was her best chance of qualifying - she now hopes to attain the Olympic A mark.

Qualifying tournaments are the England Championships in Oldbury, in February, the European Championships in April in Turkey or the Olympic trials in May in Yorkshire. The Olympic event itself will take place in the ExCel Centre.

And since 2008's disappointment she has found other reasons to drive her on.

The World Championships last November did not go as well as she'd hoped in some senses.

"It was the first time I'd been back to 48kg since Melbourne. It wasn't too bad, but I didn't get what I wanted," she said of finishing in the top 20. "My second and third attempts, they didn't give me the allowed time. But I got a British record and personal bests, so I can't be too upset.

"But I was still angry when I went to the South East Open Championships three weeks later and got five British records."

Now the focus is fully on the London Games and lifting in front of fans of the sport and those who might have picked up tickets just to go to an event. "To perform at a Games in front of a home crowd would be a wonderful experience," said Calvino. "It's a great sport to watch. It's a shame it's not big over here. When you're not a team sport, you suffer."