JOHANNA JACKSON is determined to put her Olympics disappointment behind her and to focus on success in the next chapter of her race walking career.

The 28-year old was disqualified in the 20km race walk at London 2012, an event she only competed in after making a recovery from knee surgery which saw her lose her National Lottery funding.

The Olympics failure was compounded when she learned this year that there would be no race walking event in next summer's Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

The only high points for the New Marske athlete in 2012 were the wedding to her long-time partner Dave, and returning to competitive action after London to win the British Championships in the 10k event.

Jackson since took a break from training, chose not to compete in this summer's World Championships in Moscow, instead putting all her efforts into training for the European Championships in Zurich next summer.

Eight months have passed since her disqualification in the capital, receiving two warnings for failing to keep at least one part of a foot in contact with the ground at all times, before being shown a red card when she transgressed for a third time - and Jackson admits that the decision still haunts her.

"It has been the hardest DQ to take," said the 2010 Commonwealth champion, who has taken a part-time job at ASDA in the wake of losing her Lottery funding.

"It was such a big, once in a lifetime opportunity - home Olympics, competing in front of your own crowd - and I had high expectations of doing well in London. So it was hard to take, it took a long time to get over it.

"Even now, deep down, I'm still gutted about it. You have to move on from these things and I'm sure it will make me a better athlete for future races.

"But quite a lot has happened since London. I got married in December, so that was my focus after the Olympics. It was nice to have that distraction when the Olympics went so wrong for me."

The emphasis for Jackson is on the future, and she believes that taking a break from the sport after her British Championship win will make her a stronger athlete.

"Finding out that Glasgow wasn't going to do my event is disappointing," said Jackson.

"I won't be able to go back and defend my title. I have the European Championships that year so I do have a big event to prepare for. It'll be back for the next Commonwealth games anyway so I just get to keep my title for eight years.

"I decided I was going to have a break after London. You spend four years preparing for the Olympics, it's such a big cycle and everything went into that. I just decided I wanted a break, to concentrate on my training, to get my technique right, and come back for the year after to make a bigger impact on the world stage.

"I have so much more to offer. I'm nowhere near my best yet. Nowhere near my peak. I want to get under that 90-minute barrier for 20k, and get up there into the top-eight in the world and hopefully medals from there.

"Missing the World Championships this season will make me better for next season."

Jackson freely admitted that her career has been difficult in recent times, that it will not be easy balancing top-class training with a part-time job, but is determined to kick on and focus on the future, with Rio in 2016 very much on the agenda.

Jackson said: "It has been difficult. It felt like everything hit me at the same time in 2012, a lot of things happened. It was the worst time to lose the funding, just before the Olympics, after the Olympics I lost a few sponsors, which a lot of athletes experienced after the games, unfortunately.

"I had to get out there and get a part time job, so it's all about learning how to balance that with my training.

"They know I'm an athlete, I will have races and they've accepted that and will be flexible about it. It's good publicity for them to have an Olympic athlete working for them so they've been supportive.

"I can't end my Olympic career on a disqualification, I'm looking forward to Rio and will be trying to get as close to the medals as possible when I get there."

Johanna Jackson was publicising the annual 2k and 5k Riverside Run which takes place on the morning of Sunday, June 2, starting and finishing at the Riverside Stadium. Entry for the 5k is £10 or £8 for affiliated runners, while it is £5 for the 2k fun run. 5k entrants must be 13 or over on the day of the race.

To enter the runs, or for more information about potential charities to support, visit www.runmiddlesbrough.com