The Fife Athletic Club runner, who grew up in Ceres, will contest the 3000 metre steeplechase as one of 313 competitors in the British Olympic team.

Andrew will not attend today's opening ceremony, instead staying at the GB training camp in Macau until closer to his heat on August 16, but his mum Phyllis told the Fife Herald just making the Olympics was "a dream come true".

"I'm just immensely proud of him," she said.

"I hope for his sake that he gets as far as he wants."

Born in Japan in 1982, the 25-year-old received some early inspiration when his St Andrean mum went to see the movie 'Chariots of Fire' while pregnant, revelling in the iconic beach running opening that was shot in St Andrews.

Phyllis said: "Later in life he's re-enacted the opening scene of that movie so many times."

The family moved to Ceres in 1990, where Andrew attended Ceres Primary School and then Madras College, St Andrews.

A primary school cross country event in Kirkcaldy proved so enjoyable that he wanted to branch out with his running.

Meanwhile, Phyllis began running regularly herself and when asked to join Fife AC by then president Graham Bennison, her son joined too.

"It opened us up to a wonderful camaraderie that continues to this day," she said.

Phyllis paid tribute to Andrew's coaches throughout his career, first Fife AC's Dave Francis and Madras College PE teacher Elspeth Wallace, and then later Professor Ronnie Morrison in the UK and American coach Greg McMillan.

After school, Andrew went to university at Stirling and then won a sports scholarship to Florida State University in the United States, a move that helped his development, particularly his speed.

For the past few summers he has combined his training with shiftwork at the Old Course Hotel in St Andrews.

His routine included waking at 4 a.m. for the first of three daily training sessions, finishing training with effectively an ice bath in the North Sea to limit any muscle damage and tumbling into bed exhausted around 8 p.m.

"It's very, very difficult for them to train as hard as they do because there's no other life for them — they eat, sleep and train," said Phyllis.

"That is what you have to do if you want to be really good."

Phyllis, who now lives in Nairn, said the 3000m steeplechase would be a tough event for Andrew, both through the quality of the Kenyan-dominated field and the sheer difficulty of the discipline.

"It's an endurance race with hurdling and high jump in the middle of it," she said.

"I know he'll do as well as he can and we hope to see him in the final."