HE may have “retired” from his competitive days in the water, but swimming ace Mark Foster is certainly not resting on his laurels.

The five-times Olympian, 40, who is currently commentating on the Commonwealth Games for the BBC, said he finds it hard to watch the action from the TV studio.

He said: “I do get the urge to jump in when I see the swimmers all lining up on the block. I think, ‘I want to be there!’”

Mark, who comes from Billericay and was a former pupil at Alleyn Court Prep School in Wakering Road, Southend, retired from swimming after the Beijing Games two years ago.

He called time on a career in which he racked up 47 international medals – but sadly none at the Olympics.

As for the controversy surrounding the games and the poor quality of the equipment, including the pool, Mark said: “There’s been a lot of bad publicity and a few issues, but I think that shouldn’t take anything away from the competition.

“There were some problems with the pool, but it wasn’t that bad. The fact we have won quite a few medals warrant this.”

Mark, a 50m freestyler, was world champion six times and has broken eight world records, but his swimming success began with the Southend Swimming Club, based at Warrior Square.

By the time he was 15, he was the fastest swimmer in the UK.

It is now two years since Mark was a contestant on Strictly Come Dancing. He added: “I’m planning to go up to the Strictly studio and be in the audience in a couple of weeks time. I still keep in touch with a lot of the dancers. It was one of the best times of my life.

“After finding out Kara Tointon is from Southend, I’ll have to be rooting for her..”

Mark is working with Rod Stewart’s wife, Penny Lancaster, on the British Gas Swimfit scheme, which encourages people to learn to swim.

As well as being in demand as a TV personality and a model, Mark does the rounds as a guest speaker, and is also throwing his weight behind the Grey-Away Day scheme to promote prostate cancer awareness. It saw him recently dye his famous grey hair back to brown, for the charity.

He added: “It could happen to me, my dad, my friend or anyone, and I’m trying to get the message across that men need to check for early signs.