Dan Ritchie admitted to being "devastated" after his dreams of competing at the London 2012 Olympics were dashed by injury.

The Herne Bay rower, 25, had secured a place in the Great Britain men’s eight for the London Games despite an injury-plagued year, which had seen him undergo separate surgery on his knee and Achilles’ tendons.

The former Herne Bay High School pupil (pictured) said: "This year’s been a pretty bad year for me in terms of injuries.

"I ripped the tendon in my knee on the second day of training and I had to have an operation on that which ruled me out for six weeks.

"During the rehab of that I tore my Achilles’ tendon and had to have another operation.

"I was in hospital having the operation on my birthday in January while the other guys were disappearing to South Africa for a camp. That was quite difficult in itself."

The Margate-born star – a former nationally ranked swimmer – revealed how the latest injury ended any hopes he had of competing in London.

"I was in a boat on a training camp before the first World Cup meeting this week," he said. "It was April 23 at 1.15pm when I felt my knee twinge.

"I went to see the physio and it was called right there that my Games was pretty much over.

"It’s very rare that you can pinpoint an exact time when your dream comes to an end, but I can.

"In everyone’s life there comes a time when you’ll lose a battle, but just because you lose the battle doesn’t mean you won’t win the war. That’s how I’m looking at it."