Hannah Mills Excited For London 2012

Hannah Mills has plenty to get excited about when it comes to London 2012 as she has already been selected for the games along with partner Saskia Clarke.

I caught up with her talk about getting into the sport, building up a partner ship with Saskia and looking ahead to her first Olympic Games.

- The London 2012 Games are now just a handful of months away so how excited are you at the idea of a home Games?

Unbelievably excited!! It's something every athlete can only dream of, to represent your country at a home games and the fact that this dream has become a reality is just incredible.

- You have been working with Saskia for less than twelve months so how have you been settling into the partnership?

Really well!! We've worked really hard on our teamwork and communication as it's such a vital part of sailing a two person dinghy.

We manage to get the balance with having a lot of fun but then also knowing when we need to switch and be absolutely 100% on it.

- Despite the partnership being quite new it has been a good summer for you have picked up a couple of silvers so how has the season been from your perspective?

The season has been outstanding to be honest. Neither of us expected we would have this success so quickly, we always knew we had the potential but to do it so fast it’s amazing and shows how hard we have worked the past seven months!

- You are safe in the knowledge that you have a spot on the GB team for next year so what needs to be done between now and then to prepare?

We have so much we would like to do, however you have to be realistic about what actually can be done and make sure you do those things really well and not lots of things averagely well.

It's all about timing it right and making sure we do everything we can to make sure we are ready to peak come next summer.

- How realistic is gold for yourself and Saskia next summer? Have you thought about what you might achieve yet or are you just taking it one step at a time?

We believe it's 100% realistic or I don't think either of us would be doing it. We are absolutely not just going for the t shirt!

We definitely have the potential but the Olympics are about it all coming together on the right day and to make sure that happens there are lots of things to put in place first....

- How did you get into the sport in the first place?
 
I was on holiday in Cornwall when I was 8 and my brothers went on a sailing course, obviously being the younger sister I wanted a go to so I got to finally go sailing in a mirror dinghy!

I then came back to Cardiff and due to having bad knees, stopped playing so much tennis and started doing more and more sailing.

- There will be plenty of kids inspired to get into sport when the Olympics kicks off next year so for those who want to get into sailing what advice would you give?

Absolutely do it!! It's a great sport to be involved with and contrary to popular belief you don't need to be loaded to do it at all.

Go down to your local sailing club and get stuck in! It's a great atmosphere for the whole family with people of all ages having a go and having fun.

- You were one of eleven sailors that were named on the team so how strong would  you say Team GB are this time around - sailing has been a good Olympic sport for us in the past?

I would say we are a really strong team, our goal is 4 medals out of the 10 disciplines and we want to go into the Olympics with a good chance of a medal in each class and then it is likely that on any given day about half will come away with the goods.

Hopefully we will be in that half and hopefully if we can all pull together as a team we can deliver more.

- This is set to be your first Olympic Games so how has being around Saskia as she already has Olympic experience?

Sas has been great, I've bombarded her nonstop for 7months now about her experience of Beijing, what was good, what didn’t work and how it could have gone better and that has been invaluable for me and so inspiring.

- Finally what's next for you?

Well having gotten over the initial excitement and shock of being selected! It's now time to really get going ready for next year and that all starts with our World Championships in Perth in December.

Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions

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Helen Earnshaw - FemaleFirst