Tom Solesbury (front)

Team spirit the key for Olympic Games rower Tom Solesbury

Tom Solesbury believes team spirit will be pivotal to a successful Olympic Games as he bids to banish his Beijing nightmare once and for all.

The Petts Wood based rower had his Team GB place officially confirmed last week and he will take to the water alongside Charles Cousins, Stephen Rowbotham and Matthew Wells in the quadruple scull – desperate to put the events of four years ago to rest for good.

Poor preparation meant Solesbury and men’s pairs partner Robin Bourne-Taylor had to settle for 13th place in China, consequently missing out on the final and the chance to take home a medal.

But the former Ravenswood School pupil believes with time on his side, he will prove to be far more competitive in front of the home crowd at Dorney Lake come July.

He said: “It’s very important to know and bond with your team-mates in rowing. We’ve got much more time this year to get to know each other and gel as a unit.

“If we don’t perform this year it’s down to us.

“I was disappointed with how I did in Beijing and it’s been hard to have had to wait to put that right.

“It wasn’t just one day where it went wrong, it built up over a short period. There was a group of 10 of us that were together for the season, which had to be whittled down to eight for the Games.

“I wasn’t part of that and had a bit of a wait before I was selected to be put in a pair. We got together about four weeks before the Games started, which isn’t really enough time and we had problems getting the boat up and running – we could just never find the speed we needed.

“We were realistic going into the Games. Our goal was never to win a medal, but I thought we could make the final.”

Determined to be better conditioned ahead of this summer’s Games, Solesbury and co flew out to Munich this week in preparation for the World Cup, which begins tomorrow (Friday).

It kicks off a hectic period up to the opening Olympic heats in Eton on July 28.

And while the Oxford graduate admits missing out on watching Euro 2012 will be tough, the opportunity to bond with his relatively new team-mates and potentially add his name to British rowing’s illustrious alumni means it’s a sacrifice worth making .

Solesbury added: “We’ll be sharing rooms and living in each other’s pockets in Munich, so we’ll get to know each other well.

“Then we’re only back in the country for a few days before we go to an altitude training camp in Austria, then we go to a finishing camp in Portugal.

“Once we get to Austria I think we’ll struggle to keep up with the football scores.

“We’ll be up a mountain somewhere, staying in huts. The scenery is incredible, but the phone signal is not!

“There’s a lot of hard work to be done but this is what we work for.

“There are lots of competitions along the way, we work in a four-year cycle, but ultimately you will be judged on your Olympic performance.”