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Norfolk athlete Barbara Parker is confident she can deal with the pressure of home expectations when she competes in the London Olympics.

The 29-year-old from King's Lynn has been selected for the 5,000m and her main event, the 3,000m steeplechase.

"For Beijing I hyped it up, thinking 'It's the Olympic Games and it's going to be something different' - but it's really just another race.

"I've just got to stay calm and collected," she told ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio Norfolk.

Parker now lives in Atlanta in the United States and part of her preparation for London has been to re-acclimatise to the British weather.

She will be running at the Diamond League meeting in Paris on Friday - "The field's pretty much like the Olympic final, maybe even better," she said - and also plans to compete at Crystal Palace the following weekend.

Currently ranked seventh in the world in the steeplechase, she has been working with a sports psychologist and believes a medal is a realistic possibility if everything goes her way on the day.

"There's really not that much distance between me and the six people ahead of me. I definitely don't feel I've run my fastest time of the season yet," the British number one added.