Olympic athletes exhibit the same drive and skills required to make them successful, says an executive search consultant.

Stuart Blake, managing director of Bayfield Executive Search and Selection, said that top companies look for self-confidence, motivation, dedication, the desire to win and the ability to work as part of a team.

Blake said: "It takes years of dedication, perseverance and ambition to become a senior executive or director so in that sense they are very much like athletes that make the Olympics.  Our current Olympians have dedicated huge amounts of time and effort to make sure they are the best, often making huge sacrifices along the way."

Top Olympian success stories include: Adrian Moorhouse, a gold medal winner in 1988 and managing director of performance consultancy Lane 4, Colin Jackson, a silver medalist at the same Olympics and founder of multi-media production company, Red Shoes and Sir Menzies Campbell, a competitor at the 1964 Games and former leader of the Liberal Democrats.