Tokyo Olympics: Zoey Clark hopes to emulate Eilidh Doyle’s success by landing 4×400 relay medal

Doyle’s retirement in the spring was a knock to the Brits’ chances of matching their bronze from Rio 2016 but they will still follow their former captain’s lead, Clark insists.

She said: “Eilidh’s such an inspiration. It is really weird not having her here because she’s been there from the beginning. She was on my first team, and she’s just always been a presence there. So it’s feeling really weird not having her there. But, I hope I do her proud. Because she’s really paved the way for all of us in Scotland.”

Clark, primed to go in today’s heats, has already made her Olympic bow in the rounds of the mixed relay last week after beating the selection cut in a season when she was unable to race overseas.

Making the grade has meant going the extra mile following her decision to stay in the north-east despite overtures to join her colleagues in Loughborough.

“I’m not going to lie, it’s always been a little bit more difficult from where I am located,” she admits. “I think sometimes people do forget about me, being all the way up north.

“But I’ve chosen to be there. And I have such a great set-up and everything works for me. Perhaps it makes some things more difficult, but it’s what works for me. And I’m content with it.”

Even in the Athletes Village, Clark has been pulling double duty, cheering on British running mates but also whipping out her laptop to run numbers in her day job as a process engineer at an oil and gas services company in the Granite City. “Really nerdy,” she says, of her role.

The decision to put her first-class engineering degree to good use and move part-time last year has been the best possible move, she declares.

“I don’t think necessarily the full-time athlete setup worked in my favour. I used to have all day to myself to think. And I was suffering from not having that focus, something to do for my brain,  a distraction almost. So I always knew that I would get back into engineering.

“My master plan was to do it after the Olympics. Obviously that was delayed by a year, so I just had to roll with it. But I definitely feel the benefit from being back at work, because  I can switch my engineering brain off and go to training and I know I’m ready to do it. I’m much more happy, I think.”