Bermuda longer jumper Tyrone Smith is determined not to become a 'one hit wonder' and is confident he can consistently leap beyond eight metres next season.

Smith leapt into the history books this summer with a personal best jump of 8.22 metres to win the gold medal at the CAC Games in Puerto Rico.

Frustratingly for the 24-year-old, he was unable to reproduce that kind of scintillating form at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India, placing fifth with a leap of 7.76.

Had Smith mirrored his CAC Games jump in India, then he would have finished his memorable season by claiming the silver medal.

"I can't say I was happy with my fifth place finish. Medalling was within in my capabilities, although it would have taken a personal best or my second furthest jump to pull it off," said Smith. "Obviously, knowing it was within my region and that I was unable to make it happen is a little disappointing."

Smith seriously considered pulling out of the Games overs fears he could be putting his health at risk after of the outbreak of dengue fever. But yesterday he expressed satisfaction over the facilities provided to the athletes.

"Obviously there was a lot of worry on my part about the Games' conditions and so forth," Smith said, "but when we got there it was fine and I've competed in far worse organised events . . . the food was great and the village was fine.

"During the heats the long jumpers had to have some pretty heated words with the some officials but by the final most of the problems had been smoothed out."

Houston-based Smith plans to enjoy a month's rest and recuperation before resuming his six-days a-week training programme.

His primary aim next season will be to hit the 7.95m mark at every event in which he competes.

"Within the first three jumps of any competition I need to be hitting 7.95 metres. The overwhelming fact for me is that I need to jump over eight metres to move on. At Beijing I just missed out 7.91m. If I'd jumped 7.95 I would have been in the Olympic final," he said.

"The CAC Games win was great and everything but I don't want that to be a one-off, I don't want to be a one-hit-wonder."

Training six-days a-week while working as a part-time car salesman is not the ideal preparation for a top class athlete. And Smith concedes that juggling his long jump career with his job at the dealership is not getting any easier.

He said he returned home from Delhi earlier this week to discover his desk occupied by another colleague.

"I'm working the full schedule at the dealership at the moment but I'm not sure how much longer this is going to last," said Smith.

"I'm starting to feel the pressure, I don't think they like my athletic schedule. The gentleman who hired me was a pretty big fan of athletics and when I was with the Carl Lewis athletics group, Carl actually came into the dealership to sooth things over for me.

"That gentleman left just before I went to India so I no longer have that ally. When I returned my desk had been taken over by someone else so I'm kind of reading the signs."

"I've a reasonably comfortable life and I'm willing to cut back to virtually nothing in order to pursue my goals. Hopefully the sponsorship comes through with the shoe company and maybe something on the Island."