Lottery funding has revolutionised preparation for the upcoming Olympic Games in Beijing, especially in sports like taekwondo.

Great Britain hopeful Tyrone Robinson not only trains hard but has experts on hand to check his diet and a psychiatrist to prepare him mentally.

The 20-year-old from Mansfield took up the sport when he was just seven.

"I just thought you could get to fight and not get in trouble for it," he says. "I just enjoyed it from there."

Sarah Stevenson's guide to taekwondo

Now he is a serious medal hope in the -58 kg category having won bronze in the European Championships in Rome in April and previously winning silver in an Olympic qualifying tournament in Turkey earlier in the year.

Tyrone trains six days a week at the Feat Factory. It is the training centre for the British taekwondo team based in a converted factory on an industrial estate in Manchester.

The elite members of the squad have been training there since June 2007. High performance coach Steve Jennings says the specialised approach to training is paying dividends and competitors like Robinson should shine in Beijing.

He says: "He's a medal hope. We selected Tyrone's category because it's one of our strongest categories. We've got strength in depth there and he's got a really good chance."

His prospects have been given an edge by the advice given to him by team psychiatrist Alice Robson. She helps instil confidence and a positive attitude in the fighters.

She says: "We've shown in many athletes that this technique has huge effects and can mean the difference between success and failure."

Britain has qualified in three different weight categories for the Beijing Games in August, with the team due to be named later this month.