OXFORD’S Olympic hero praised some of the world’s best medical researchers yesterday.

Double gold medal-winning rower Andrew Triggs Hodge, from East Oxford, was speaking as the Oxford Biomedical Research Centre opened its doors to the public at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Headington.

He said: “The research centre puts experts right in the middle of the hospital, so all the work they are doing goes directly into healthcare to benefit patients.

“The research becomes a lot more applied and takes no time going straight into the system to help people.

“We take it for granted that this is on our doorstep in Oxford sometimes. When you look at it from the outside, we are envied across the world.

Mr Triggs Hodge came straight from training to join the head of experimental neurology research Prof Peter Brown in testing out deep brain stimulation to show the hundreds of visitors some of the hospital’s work.