London 2012 Olympics: Early morning fencing and a full-time job - It’s goodbye to a social life for Sophie Troiano

Fencer Sophie Troiano juggles being a Team GB Olympic athlete with holding down a full-time job.

Troiano, 25, from New Malden, who was competing today in the women’s team foil, goes training at 5.30am, then on to a full day’s work at pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline in Brentford.

She missed out in the individual foil on Saturday but is hoping for success with team-mates Anna Bentley and Natalia Sheppard.

“I’ve lost count of the number of times people have said, ‘Do you want to come out tonight?’ and I can’t,” she said.

“I work full-time for GlaxoSmithKline, but they have a very flexible policy and I go into work for 2pm.”

Troiano began fencing when she was eight. “My father used to fence, that’s where I first tried it. He fenced for the British team.”

Now she only occasionally takes on her father John because, she says, they are both “far too competitive”.

As a Londoner, Troiano said she was excited not only to be competing but also to see the speed at which Stratford has developed.

She said: “As an athlete it’s fantastic to have a home Olympics, but for London it’s going to be a really good thing. That part of London will redevelop at a speed that wouldn’t have been possible otherwise.”