Jake Byrne hopes to represent Ireland in Rio.

Jake Byrne is the first Mullingar person to go to Iona College, and the marketing and management student has already made a name for himself in his first year stateside, securing a place in the top three fastest freshmen in the country.

So with a lot of determination, no serious injuries, and a little bit of luck, there is a plan in place which should see this distance runner from Rochfortbridge reach Rio in four years time.

"I was on the streets watching all of John Joe's fights, and I was in Cusack Park when he and Joseph Murphy came home. It's incredible what they have both achieved," says Jake of the two Olympians, who he says, have inspired him even more to reach his own Olympic goal.

"He (John Joe) had his sights set a month after I met him at the Westmeath Examiner Sports Star awards to win a medal in London, and after seeing him achieve that, if he does decide to stay on for another four years, it would be great to be there and experience it with him."

Jake says there are many who still don't understand the extent of winning a silver medal in the Olympics.

"He (John Joe) has equalled exactly what Sonia O'Sullivan has done, he's surpassed Eamonn Coghlan who's known globally for his sport. And a lot of Joseph's stuff has gone unmarked by the national papers - I mean he was so close to the medals and yet you don't hear too much about it."

The plan

"There is a four-year-plan in place for me," says Jake, adding that his focus lies on each individual race.

"Every race and training session is going to be done with the intent of getting to the Olympics in four years, but my focus won't be on that, it's just too far ahead to look at.

"You have to take it in seasons because you could look four years down the line and you might not plan for an injury that puts you out for three months.

"I'll be 23 and that's still quite young. It would be great to get there and if I keep going the way I am, and get my head around it I think I can get there, but that's still a bit away."

So what's training like out there in comparison to here?

"It's more intense. The coaches and the competitors are a lot more unfriendly, you don't get any sympathy from anybody if you do mess up or have a bad day.

"It can be a lonely sport. You can blame this and that, but if you don't run well, it's all on your own back.

"You get all the success if you win, but if you mess up then everybody's watching you, especially if you're closer to the top, so that type of pressure can be hard."

So what does he regard as his biggest achievement to date? "I think I'd have to say surviving the first year in college," he laughs. "I was a bit of an unknown quantity going over there.

"They had taken a gamble on me because I got injured in the 2009 World Championships. That put me out for six months, which meant four months of no activity whatsoever, so I didn't really bring a lot of form with me going over to America," says Jake.

"I ran one really gutsy big race and that, along with titles I won when I was younger, saved me," he admits.

"So just breaking into the team and racing in big races, and to have people looking around to see where I am because I'm a bit of a kicker, so if I am around towards the end of a race, I'm known as a bit of a danger.

"It's good because when I was here, I went from being someone who was almost a dead set for placing first or second to someone who wasn't really a worry. So getting back to that level was a big thing for me.

"I got into the top three fastest freshmen in the country last year, so that was a big thing for me. Now I'll be looking towards the European U23s in Finland next year."