LAWRENCE Clarke is hoping a difficult last eight months can spur him towards a successful Rio Olympics this summer.

The 110-metre hurdler, who hails from Christmas Common, near Watlington, is bidding to qualify for his second games after finishing an impressive fourth at London 2012.

But it has been a year of change for Clarke, who made the decision last October to swap both coach and training base – leaving Bath and moving to Paris, France.

Just weeks later he was dealt a major blow when it was announced he would no longer be funded by UK Athletics, the national governing body of British Athletics, in its World Class Performance Programme for 2015-16.

However, after coming to terms with the news, Clarke is feeling confident ahead of his bid to qualify for Rio at this weekend’s British Championships in Birmingham.

He said: “For me it is always about the Olympic Games.

“I find it difficult to get motivated around that – it’s the be all and end all.”

The 26-year-old admits he was hit hard by news he would lose funding.

But with the help of insurance company JLT he is now in a good place and feels more comfortable as an independent athlete after first seeing it as a difficult hurdle to clear.

Clarke said: “I was given promises they (UK Athletics) were fully behind me and I was exceptionally disappointed.

“It was one of those very difficult things to swallow.

“There was part of me that could have seen it coming and for some time afterwards I did not know how I was going to make ends meet.

“Now I have my own team and the pressure is on the British athletes.”

Having headed to Paris armed only with a GCSE understanding of French, Clarke admits he also found it difficult to adjust to a new way of not only training, but communicating with coach Samba-Koundy Giscard.

Clarke said: “It was very different to begin with, trying to get my head around that has probably been the hardest part.

“He likes to have big discussions and debriefs for two-and-a-half hours.

“I never had that in England and to have it in French is tough.”

Living in Paris has also had its problems after last year’s terrorist attack on the city, but Clarke insists he feels safe and is settled in France.

He said: “I live five minutes away from where the attacks happened.

“Some evenings they would close off the square where I got off the metro, but I am not one of those people who worries unnecessarily.

“It is so tragic, but the French are pretty resilient and I don’t think it is dangerous at all.”

He added: “I am very happy I made the decision to go to Paris.”