BIRMINGHAM, England — After leaving her two previous Olympic Games without an individual medal, Novlene Williams-Mills says she hopes this time will be different when she competes in the XXX Olympiad set to start this week in London.

Williams-Mills, the sixth fastest woman this year over the one-lap distance with 49.78 seconds, says she has learned from her experiences in Athens in 2004 and Beijing 2008.

“The last two Olympics Games I failed to get a medal and this time I am not going home without one,” she told the Jamaica Observer at the JAAA/JOA media day held at the Munrow Sports Complex on the University of Birmingham where the athletes have trained for the past week.

The Jamaican female team captain who only arrived in Birmingham at the weekend and who has two Olympic relay bronze medals, told the Observer, “Yes, I am ready to run but the plan is to take it one race at a time.”

Williams-Mills has shown a lot of improvement this year, clocking 50secs or faster four times since opening up with 49.99 to win at the Jamaica International Invitational in May.

Despite her outstanding performances, Williams-Mills has never made the final at an Olympic Games.

In Athens, she ran a then personal best 50.54 in the first round, then 50.85 in the semi-finals for third in her heat, but the ninth best overall and therefore missed a place in the final.

Four years later in Beijing, China, she won her first-round heat in 51.51, then ran much faster, clocking 51.06 in the semi-finals, but failed to advance as teammates Shericka Williams, who went on to take the silver medal, and then national champion Rosemarie Whyte, both ran in the medal round.

It would be a surprise if Williams-Mills fails to make it as far as the medal round, and a place on the podium should not be beyond her reach either.