"There is constant pain every day when I wake up ... When you experience something every day you learn to find ways to just put it out of your mind," he said.

The plate causes so much grief that he will have it removed after the Games.

DRIVEN PERFECTIONIST

Shewfelt admits he is a driven perfectionist, which only increases the frustration. Twice a month he consults a psychologist to help keep his mind clear.

He said: "This is very hard, especially in an Olympic year when there's a lot of pressure and a lot of expectation from the outside.

"Basically (the psychologist) has constantly reminded me that I am making progress, I am doing the best I can do and I can only control that. I can't control anything else."

Shewfelt keeps a blog -- http://kyleshewfelt.blogspot.com -- where he details, sometimes with remarkable frankness, how he is doing.

"The reason I am so tired is because I have been working hard. So hard that when I am not in training I am in a constant state of pain and exhaustion," he wrote on Monday.

After a recent dinner with his parents he had felt so weak he lay down on the floor in front of the kitchen refrigerator.

"I planted myself there and didn't move. I couldn't move. It was 7 p.m. and I was ready for bed," he related.

Shewfelt, who says he is motivated by reading earlier posts and seeing how far he has come, dismisses the idea that rivals might read his more downbeat entries and take heart.

"I hope that they're watching and seeing the progress I'm making," he said.

Ironically, Shewfelt is at a more advanced stage of preparation than before Athens when he was suffering from an ankle injury.

"The tendency is often to overtrain and be past your peak when you get to the Olympics," said Penny Werthner, the Canadian team's sports psychologist.

"Sometimes an athlete is injured before the Olympics and arrives better trained," she told Reuters.

Shewfelt said: "I try to make the most of every day right now. I think that's what the injury has done for me -- it's made me appreciate this opportunity and appreciate my ability and also to understand that things can change in an instant."