Enfield born British high jumper Robbie Grabarz is aiming to have the jump of his life to defend his London 2012 bronze medal at Rio in August.

The 28-year-old produced a jump of 2.29m to seal bronze, which helped Great Britain overhaul the Olympic medal total set at Beijing 2008.

And following his silver medal at the Portland World Indoor Championships in February, Grabarz insists his main aim for 2016 is to have another Olympic podium finish.

He said: “Without a doubt that is what I am trying to do is to defend my medal at Rio.

“To me that is something really exciting as I want to get third again or finish even higher.”

In Portland the athlete cleared 2.33, which was 0.04 metres higher than his bronze medal finish at the London Olympic Games but this time around American Erik Kynard finished behind the Briton.

Grabarz said: “At the Indoor Championships I knew things were going well and I am looking to take this forward into the next championships.

“I followed more of a performance based on my experience rather than just doing the high jump – that was the difference for me.”

The high jumper added: “I think as a whole, after London, people want more who won at the last Olympics and the people who did not perform how they wanted to, are also looking for medals at Rio.

“There are even some members of the team who took up sport because of London and will be competing at the games.

“I think this is great for Britain and hopefully we can do as well as we did in London 2012.”

However, it wasn’t all plain sailing on the road to Rio as Grabarz finished fourth at the Doha IAAF Diamond League and fifth at the Rabat Meeting clearing 2.29m and 2.25m.

Grabarz has many titles to his name being a two time Diamond League meeting winner as well as three time national champion and indoor champion.

But he felt as though his performance was not up to standard at the championships after his surprise success in Oregon.

He said: “I have been slightly off where I wanted to be, but I think this is exciting as I know there is a lot more I can do and I am closer and closer to getting it right.”

First for the athlete however is the Birmingham Diamond League where Grabarz admitted he loves to perform in front of a home crowd, especially in Birmingham.

Grabarz said he needs to work more on his technical work as it is slightly behind but believes things are starting to come together.

“Getting results early is vital and I always enjoy performing in Birmingham,” he said.

“They are an educated crowd, they get behind everyone and follow the high jump competition closely.

“It makes it a lot more enjoyable when you know the crowd is right behind you.”

Grabarz joins the likes of Mo Farah, Dina Asher-Smith, Gianmarco Tamberi, Dafne Schippers and Adam Gemili in a star-studded field at the Birmingham Diamond League on Sunday, June 5. For tickets visit britishathletics.org.uk