IF YOU knew him as the Croydon star who threw discus at the London Olympic Games, that could be set to change.
Lawrence Okoye now has his sights firmly set on American football as he eyes up the chance to land a professional contract through the NFL draft on April 25.
But Okoye, who had never previously played the sport, impressed at trials last week at the Cowboys Stadium in Dallas and judging by the amount of attention he received from NFL teams, a career change might just be on the cards.
The 21-year-old athlete, who attended Whitgift School, showed off his skills on Wednesday at the London Soccerdome with players from London Warriors.
Headed by Tony Allen, former director of European development for the NFL, Okoye impressed in drills demonstrating his acceleration and agility.
"It's great people are seeing the potential," he said after the session. "But like I've said before there's no replacement for playing the game. The teams that come at me know this – they know they've got to do some work themselves and get the dividends they can get out of me."
At 6ft 6in and with a frame of more than 21 stone, Okoye's ability to combine speed and power has drawn a lot of attention. In his first year as a senior athlete in 2011, he broke the British record for discus and won the European U23 title, before competing at the London Olympic Games, finishing 12th.
But now he admits he has NFL teams "in the double figures" who have expressed an interest to take him on.
"Discus is all about producing power from the ground up and that's what football is all about," he added. "Obviously I've got no experience playing football so it's going to be one hell of a draft and I just got to make sure I keep working hard every day."
Okoye has been a fan of American football since he was a young boy and continues to watch it on television when he can.
He added: "It's something I've had in the back of my head for along time so I decided to go for it. If I don't do it now I'm never going to do it, so it's something I want to prove to myself more than anything.
Okoye, who has a deferred place at Oxford University, was a pupil at Whitgift School where he said he got plenty of support, especially from headmaster Dr Christopher Barnett, even after he left. And Okoye now hopes he can bring some of that success back to south London.
When asked if American football had the scope to get a big following in the area he said: "Absolutely, I think we've had many examples of sport getting a bigger covering because a Brit has done well on an international stage. So it's up to me to do as well as possible so we do get a following here in the UK and obviously in my hometown people do see football as less of a novelty and more of a game that they want to follow.
"I need to make sure I work as hard as possible so people back home can get more exposed to the sport."