The former Kings Chester pupil, from Coedpoeth, has been selected for the Great Britain four boat at this year's Games on the back of a wretched experience at the Athens Games four years ago.

The night before the opening heat in Athens he was struck down by gastroenteritis and was a helpless spectator as his team-mates trailed home last.

Pumped full of antibiotics, he made it back for the repechage only to cross the finish line third, missing out on the final.

James wants to ensure he brings something back from the Olympics this time

Having taken a year off from his engineering degree at Cambridge University to train with the GB squad, James's Olympics were over in little more than five minutes.

"Although people say it's great to go to the Olympics, it's actually really crap to come home and say 'we came ninth'," he said.

"To be honest, you don't really want to tell people that you've been to
the Olympics.

"I know that sounds stupid and ungrateful but there's no point going to the Olympics unless you can come away with something, and I think that was a very important lesson to me."

James, 24, appeared to be out of contention for an Olympic place six weeks ago when, only two days after veteran coach Jurgen Grobler had promoted him to the flagship men's heavyweight boat in place of Alex Partridge, he felt a tightness across his ribcage and back during a training outing.

The problem was diagnosed as a trapped lower disc and he was ordered to stop rowing. The news was all the more devastating because the boat had been flying in training.

"Everything had been going great," said James. "We were doing some really phenomenal times."

The boat's speed carried through to the opening World Cup regatta in Munich in May, where, with Tom Lucy substituting for James in the bow seat, and the crew revived memories of their 27-race unbeaten run from 2005-07 with a resounding victory.

But, at the second World Cup event in Lucerne three weeks later, the four were anything but fab, and with James joined on the casualty list by Andy Hodge, the reshuffled quartet failed to progress past their semi-final, becoming the first British four to fail to make the final at a major international in 16 years.

"We've not had much racing together so all we really want to do is execute our race plan," said James. "We know we're not at our peak fitness."

Cardiff-born James admits he is relieved to be back but needs no reminding of the weight of expectation in a sport where Britain have won gold medals at every Games since Los Angeles in 1984.

The difference is that this time there is no Steve Redgrave or Matthew Pinsent to take the strain.

Olivia Whitlam, who is also a former Kings Chester pupil, has been selected to compete for Great Britain in the Women's Pair alongside Louisa Reeve.