In the last part of his exclusive series, Tony Jeffries tells Stuart Rayner what life has been like since he returned from China with a bronze medal - and how pleased he has been at the North East's reaction to his success.

WHEN Tony Jeffries flew to Beijing as part of Great Britain's 313-strong Olympic team it was as a virtual unknown but since returning from his medal-winning heroics in China, the Sunderland light-heavyweight is starting to realise just how famous he has become.

Wins against Colombia's Eleider Alvarez and Hungary's Imre Szello guaranteed Jeffries one of the country's 47 medals at the Games. And although he had to settle for bronze after losing to Ireland's Kenny Egan, the defeat has done nothing to damage his standing in the sports-mad North East.

Jeffries admits when he was at the Games he did not really appreciate the excitement the Olympics was attracting back home but he is quickly starting to.

"You're in a bubble when you're out there, you don't know what's happening," he says. "I only saw the write-ups on the internet. You don't realise how big it is until you get back. Now everyone knows who I am, it's mad because I'm just a normal lad from Sunderland.

"I went into town today to get some new shoes and everyone was just coming up to me saying, 'Well done Tony.' I've had loads and loads of people do that and it just made me think, 'Bloody hell, everyone in Sunderland is proud of me.' To actually see people's reaction has been brilliant.

"The boxers didn't really get much chance to mingle with the other athletes. When you're boxing you can't really do anything else. We would train, then eat our healthy food and go to sleep.

"Our first round was on the first day and our final was on the last day. But after I was knocked out in the semi-finals I went out and had a couple of beers. It was good to unwind."

As well as being the best performance of his Olympics, Jeffries' quarter-final victory over Szello was also his most important and he did little to hide his excitement when the bell rang on his 10-2 points victory, leaping for joy around the ring.

"With 30 seconds of the fight left I was eight points up and if you watch the video all I do is run, thinking, 'Don't get hit, don't get hit!'" he recalls. "I heard the crowd shouting 'Five, four, three, two, one,' and I realised that was it, I'd won an Olympic medal. I was over the moon."

For all the boxers in Beijing, reaching the Olympics was the culmination of years of hard work. After the hard slog of gym work, training camps and fights, Jeffries plans to take a break for the next six works before deciding whether to turn professional or try to go for gold at the London 2012 Games.

"Even though it was brilliant when I was out there, I'd been away for five weeks and it's great to be back and see everyone," he says.

* For more information on Tony Jeffries, visit his website at www.tonyjeffries.com.