Jo Pavey urged to raise her spirits in the last-chance saloon for Rio Olympics

Jo Pavey has 17-and-a-half laps of Amsterdam’s Olympic Stadium tonight in which to prove she deserves a spot on the plane to Rio and become a five-time Olympian.

But the 42-year-old faces an uphill task to become the oldest British Olympic track athlete in history.

Her fate will become clearer this evening, when she defends her 10,000 metres title on the opening night of the European Championships.

Billed ‘Supermum’ at the Championships two years ago in Zurich, Pavey needs to run a time of 32 minutes and 15 seconds to ensure an Olympic swansong.

That is seven seconds quicker than when she defied her age and expectations to be crowned European champion. Added to that, championship races tend to be tactical so are not habitually quick races and, as a result, her expectations and that of the team are not high.

A month ago, Pavey, who has been curtailed by a lengthy chest infection, said: “I am running out of time.” With just a month to go until the Games in Rio, tonight is effectively her last hope.

Were the Olympics to be a month further down the line, she said she was certain she would make the grade — instead her hopes hang in the balance.

“At the start of the year, things were going fine then I had a bad illness,” she said. “I am up against it.”

Should she make it to Rio, the likelihood is she would retire in the aftermath. Having enjoyed an Indian summer in her track career, she said the agony of Olympic heartache would arguably make her run on. “If anything, missing out would make me not retire and stay on another year to prove to people I am not over the hill,” she said. “I want to show I am not as old as I appear to be running.”

British Athletics performance director Neil Black was no more positive in his outlook on Pavey’s Olympic chances, laying down the gauntlet that it is now or never.

“Jo is clear she is on an upward trend but now she has to run a time that puts her in the top 24 in the world,” he added.

“That’s what she’s got to do. If she doesn’t do that, it makes it very, very difficult to select her.

“It’s a tough ask for her but one that’s achievable if she maintains her current position. She’s bust a gut.”

Pavey is rooming with Jess Andrews, Britain’s distance running revelation of this season having been a surprise winner of the British trials in Highgate over the distance.

Andrews, whose partner Dan Martin is currently riding the Tour de France with the Etixx-Quick-Step team, is hopeful Pavey will make the grade.

“It would be amazing if she could make the Games with me as well,” said Andrews, who was five years old when Pavey made her Olympic debut in Sydney in 2000.

“She’s a phenomenal athlete that a lot of people can look up to.”