PARTIALLY -SIGHTED judo star Ian Rose flew off to the paralympics on Monday determined to do a Steve Redgrave - and come back with the gold medal.

PARTIALLY -SIGHTED judo star Ian Rose flew off to the paralympics on Monday determined to do a Steve Redgrave - and come back with the gold medal.

Rose, who suffers from eye cancer, can't wait to get out there and produce a Redgrave-like winning performance.

He said: 'I'm so pumped up for it. Seeing performances like Redgrave's has just got me buzzing. Five gold medals in five different Olympics is awesome and it's an inspiration to all the other athletes coming up behind him.'

Rose won bronze in the Atlanta Olympics and was fifth in Barcelona in '92 but he won't settle for anything other than gold this time.

He said: 'It's all I'm going for. I'm going out there for the gold medal and nothing else will do. I know I can do it.

'When Britain won it's first gold medal in the cycling I had the telly on. Then the phone went and it was my coach. He asked me if I was watching and when I said yes he said 'Ian, that's going to be you'.'

While Redgrave has triumphed over diabetes and Colitis, Rose's story is even more remarkable.

He suffers from retina blastoma (eye cancer). He is blind in his left eye and only has one third vision in his right eye with his glasses on.

He has been advised to give up judo several times because he could be just one serious poke in the eye away from losing his sight.

But he has carried on regardless and has worked his way up the judo ladder to such a position that he is Britain's top partially sighted player and is ranked eighth in England in total - after beating fighters with 20-20 vision.

He said: 'This Olympics means everything. To win gold would mean that all the training I have done has paid off.'

But he is not going out there just for himself. His daughter Leah has got the same eye condition and spent a month in hospital earlier this year.

Rose said: 'At that point I thought about giving up. When I win, it will be for Leah.'

Proud dad Ken said: 'We're all behind him. He's worked so hard for this. If medals were given out for determination he would win triple gold.'

Radnage athlete Clare Strange will also be competing at the Paralympics which start on October 18.

Strange, who was paralysed from the waist down in a horse-riding accident three years ago, is in the GB wheelchair basketball team.