Hannah Mills

“You've got to be able to take the bad events with the good ones. You've got to learn to deal with them and learn to take as much as you can from those. Have fun and put as much as you can into it. As long as you've done your best, that's all you can do.”

“You can't just get in a boat with someone and be great straight away. It takes a lot of time to get used to each other. You need to learn how the other person reacts to certain situations.”

“I'm scared of the water, and I hate the sea. I'd be all right if it was clear and I could see what was underneath. But it's the not knowing what's there that freaks me out.”

“I deferred my third-year studies from university to go full time sailing to try and qualify for the 2012 London Olympics, which I did. I tried to go back to the university, but having won the silver medal, I just haven't been able to get back. And now I'm not sure if I ever will.”

“I like to relax a lot the night before a race. I like having people around me. I don't like being on my own, particularly. Music helps psych you up, too.”

“I loved to do sports when I was young. We were on a family holiday and went sailing. I just loved it. And there, you can say, life began to change for me.”

“Sailing is such a variable sport. There could be no wind, or there could be 25 knots. You never know what you're going to get.”

“Sport's hard: the margin between winning and losing is tiny.”

“I started sailing because I had to stop playing tennis so much, as I had bad knees.”

“I always dreamed of going to the Olympics. To be going to the Games in your own country is another thing; to do it as a potential medallist is another thing again.”