Bermuda's triple jump star Brian Wellman has his sights firmly set on winning a gold medal at the Olympic Games in Atlanta next summer.

Having quietly celebrated his 27th birthday in Arizona three weeks ago, Wellman says he remains focused, noting that the euphoria of this year's achievements -- a gold medal at the World Indoor Championships and a silver at the World Outdoor Championships -- are behind him although not forgotten.

At the end of the month he will begin to take the first steps towards preparing for his biggest challenge next year, making no secret that the Olympics remain his main goal.

He said he would limit his appearances at indoor meets early next year, opting to concentrate more on outdoor events in order to become better acclimatised for next year's two major events.

"I want to get down to some serious preparation so that I can win the Olympic gold medal and the Grand Prix final next year. Those are my main goals,'' said Wellman.

"I am going to have to sit down and decide what my schedule is going to be. I haven't figured out if I am going to jump indoors or not. If I do anything indoors it's just going to be a little bit. The emphasis will definitely not be there because I don't want my indoor season to take away from my outdoor season,'' he added.

While Wellman is looking forward to starting some form of light training shortly, he reckons that any competitiveness on his part will be delayed until early next year. He said it was too early to speculate where his next meet would be or whether it would be indoors or outdoors.

Having been virtually inactive since competing at a meet in London on August 25, Wellman says he is well rested and now raring to get back into peak shape.

Wellman's feats in 1995 have been well documented having reached a high when he captured a gold medal at the World Indoor Championships in Barcelona, Spain and then a silver at the World Outdoor Championships in Gothenburg, Sweden.

"This was my best season so far,'' said Wellman. "The highlight was winning the two medals in the World Championships during the same year. I was trying to become the first male ever in history to win gold medals at these two events in the same year. Nobody has ever done it. As it so happened I ended up equalling what my training partner Mike Conley did who won a gold and silver back in 1987.'' His jump at the World Indoor Championships saw him reach a milestone by going beyond 58 feet, ending up with a leap of 58 feet, one and three-quarters inches and then leaping 57 feet, nine-and-three-quarters inches at the Outdoor Championships.

But he acknowledged he could still improve -- hopefully in Atlanta next year.

BRIAN WELLMAN -- all roads lead to Atlanta