Alison wants to be a class act

This is the ultimate "show and tell" for London trainee primary school teacher Alison Williamson.

"What did you do during the summer holidays, Miss?"

"Well, I won this Olympic bronze medal on a beautiful summer's night in the marble Athens stadium where the modern Games began in 1896.

"Then I did TV, radio and newspaper interviews for hours and hours."

Williamson already has the "cool factor" among the kids, after posing as a model in Esquire magazine.

She certainly kept her composure to win her first Olympic medal last night in a desperately close bronze-medal match against Taiwan's Yuan Shu-chi.

The magnificent Panathinaiko Stadium, set in the grounds of a sporting arena built an astonishing 2,300 years ago, is the antithesis of the uninspiring and crumbling national training centre at Crystal Palace where 32-year-old Williamson arrives at 6am on dark winter mornings to practise indoors.

Although she has competed at three previous Olympics, Williamson revealed today that she had to undergo special mental training to make sure she was not overawed by the sight of all that marble.