Ian Wynne will not stay content with an Olympic bronze medal for long, even if his did come in extraordinary circumstances.

The 30-year-old sprained his ankle late on Friday night and could only hobble on dry land.

But in his kayak the feeling of discomfort was overcome by a desperation to succeed in Saturday's Olympic K1 500metres final.

Despite all his preparations being thrown off kilter by the injury, Wynne heroically battled through the pain and discomfort to finish strongly and claim bronze.

"I am happy with the bronze for now but will come back and get better next time," he said.

"All athletes will tell you the same, they want to be the best.

"And when they are the best they want to be quicker.

"You can't ever settle for what you got, then you stop improving.

"Beijing is a long way off. The last four years from Sydney have gone exceptionally quickly, so who knows what is going to happen?

"I was 10th in Sydney. It has been a steady improvement since then. I am in the best condition and the best trained I have ever been, but I know there is more to come.

"This has been the best year of my career. Most of the guys out there are probably mid-20s but I am 30 and I keep getting better and better. Why put a limit on that?"

Wynne's retiring coach Eric Farrell believes there is no question he will still be a force in the kayaking world in four years' time, given the improvements he continues to make.

"He would certainly be a contender in Beijing. He certainly hasn't reached his full potential yet," said Farrell, who was carrying Wynne's crutches as he hobbled round the Schinias Rowing Centre.

Wynne won silver in the K1 500m at the European Championships and has benefited from a radical scientific approach to his training.

He recently qualified as a corrective high performance exercise kinesiologist and has applied the principles to upgrade and refine his gym training to become more suited to kayaking.

Wynne has also stopped being vegetarian - "I have turned carnivore!" - to increase his levels of protein and with a dedicated support team of Farrelly and his partner in the K2 Paul Derby-Dowman his performances have improved.

"A lot of the things have helped me stay in it for a long time and one of them has been the funding from UK Sport and the lottery," he said.

"It enables me to train full-time and I don't have to go out and earn as well as train and it gives me the freedom to be more professional and approach it with a better attitude."

Wynne's injured ankle cost him a decent night's sleep and forced a late rearrangement of his pre-race preparations.

The strapping was tight and the pain overnight acute but he was determined not to let all that work go to waste.

"It never crossed my mind to pull out. Even if my ankle was broken or I was in complete agony I would have been out there racing," said Wynne.

"There is no way I would have given up on an Olympic final after I had fought so hard to get there. No way.

"I had made an Olympic final, it was something I dreamed of, and I wasn't going to go out there and let it get in the way. I came here to race and do my best."