Simon Burnett has revealed he intends to sacrifice personal gain for the greater good and put all his eggs in the relay basket at the London 2012 Olympics.

Burnett, brought up in Tetsworth, made sure of his third Olympic appearance at the British Gas Champion-ships last month, but for the second straight Games he failed to book an individual berth.

Instead Arizona-based Bur-nett, who celebrates his 29th birthday today, will focus all his energies on the 4x100m freestyle relay.

He will join forces with James Disney-May, Adam Brown and Craig Gibbons as the British quartet seek to improve on their eighth-placed finish at Beijing 2008.

Burnett did actually win gold at the British Championships, but failed to achieve the qualifying time.

While swimmers still have June’s ASA Championships where they can book their place at London 2012, the 2010 Commonwealth silver medallist admits he will not be in attendance in Sheffield.

“I train in the States and I just believe that travelling back to the UK just a month before the Games will compromise my performance in the relay at the Games and that’s my focus,” he said.

“So I’m going to just focus on the relay and try and have the best Games possible.

“I qualified for the Olympics, which first and foremost was the main objective when you get to the trials, but I’m a little disappointed that I’m only on the relay and I missed out on the individual.”

While Burnett & Co reached the 4x100m freestyle final at the Beijing 2008 Olympics, they ended that race in last place, but Burnett believes the quartet is now unrecognisable for the better.

“Our relay has come on leaps and bounds in the last few years and it’s in the best shape it’s ever been in so to be part of that, as well as Team GB as a whole, is really special,” he added.

“I try to take it one week at a time and thinking about my next competition and make sure I can get the most out of each of those milestones before I get to the Olympics.”

British Gas supports British Swimming at all levels and is getting the nation to show its support for Britain’s swimmers. For more information visit www.facebook.com/ BGSwimming.