It's been her dream since she was a teenager. But, after enduring injuries to her knee and back, as well as the disappointment of being de-selected from the British team at one point, sailor Hannah Snellgrove began to think she would never represent her country at the Olympic Games.
But her passion and perseverance paid off and she's thrilled to be taking part in the Women’s Single-handed Dinghy ILCA 6 class, formerly the Laser Radial, at Marseille Marina next month, as part of the 2024 Olympics.
'It's been a long project,' smiles Hannah, who was selected for the team at the end January after placing 11th in the World Sailing Championships in Argentina. 'Suddenly, everything is about performing in August.'
Despite all her ambitions, it's a position Hannah, 33, never thought she'd find herself in, not coming from a sailing family and having only taken up the hobby to get out of school PE lessons.
'It was a skive out of PE at school,' she admits. 'The first time I set foot on a boat was on the Isles of Scilly on a family holiday. We got stuck on a sandbank and I thought it was the best thing ever.
'Being lucky enough to grow up in Lymington, when I was about seven or eight, it came up as an option that we could go sailing on a Wednesday afternoon. I used my £2 pocket money every week to pay to go sailing.
'I was so lucky that it was so accessible. If I hadn't grown up by the coast, I would never have sailed.'
Hannah didn't have a natural aptitude for sailing – 'I hit my head a few times' – but says her stubbornness and determination spurred her on, alongside her passion for the sport.
'I just loved the freedom of being out on the water. I've tried to keep in mind that I'm a sailor who loves to sail. It's very important to keep that perspective.
'It started to become a pipe dream that one day I'd go to the Games. I never really thought it would happen. I did write in my diary when I was about 15, I was going to go to the Olympic Games one day, but I didn't think people from non-sailing families could get to the Olympics.
'People assume my parents own a yacht and are sailors, but they're just about learning port and starboard.'
Hannah was accepted onto the British Sailing programme in 2009, joining the British Sailing Team in 2011, during which time she was also studying at Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge. She obtained a First Class degree in Natural Sciences and believes she would have followed a career in research, had it not been for her passion for life on the water.
'I think I'd have been quite a one-dimensional person if I hadn't had sailing in my life,' she says. 'I was a geek at school. I loved being a geek. But if I hadn't had sailing when I was at Cambridge I'd have stayed there and become a researcher. I don't think I'd have been as rounded or happy.'
However her passion was brought into question when, in 2014, Hannah was de-selected from the British team, something that came as 'a complete shock'.
'There's results from World and European Championships that you have to hit,' she explains, 'But as far as I was concerned, this was full steam ahead, training to get selected for Rio.
'That was a really tough time, because I didn't have a plan B.'
Hannah embarked on a self-funded campaign for a year, but made the difficult decision to retire in 2015, aged just 25, when she ran out of money, and realised it wasn't making her happy.
Feeling lost, she applied for a number of Cambridge graduate jobs in London, but didn't have the heart to accept any. Then, one day, she walked into a pub in Lymington where an acoustic band was playing and 'just joined in'. What followed was four years of gigging with folk band Bimbling.
'I found another passion that wasn't sailing,' she says.
Hannah continued to coach sailing and also began freelance writing for the Lymington Times, who'd always been supportive of her sailing journey. But she remained hopeful that she'd one day return to her first love.
That moment happened in 2017 when Hannah took a holiday to take part in the World Sailing Championships in Holland.
'I was spotted by an American guy who was coaching the British team at the time,' she says. 'He saw me one day in training. I had this tap on my shoulder and he basically said "who the hell are you?" I said "I'm Hannah, I'm here on holiday, I write for the Lymington Times". He said if I could get a month off work in January 2018 and come to Miami he'd find me a boat to charter, see if I liked it.
'I thought it sounded quite fun.'
A crowdfunding campaign saw £7,000 raised in three weeks to help fund a new boat for Hannah, who admits she was humbled by the support of the parents of children she'd coached and even by the Lymington Times, which also made a donation.
The efforts paid off and Hannah rejoined the British squad in 2018. Despite coming second in trials in Tokyo in 2019, and being ranked seventh in the world, she lost out to the one Team GB spot for her class to another British woman who was ranked second.
A knee injury in 2020 created a further setback but Hannah came back stronger, securing sponsorship from Eastleigh-based solicitors Moore Barlow and winning medals internationally for the first time at the end of 2021, beginning of 2022, until a back injury forced her to take a year off.
'There were definitely doubts about whether I'd sail again'. she says. 'It's only in the last six months I've been able to sail without painkillers. I'll fully credit British Sailing support staff. There were times I was convinced it wasn't going to be possible, and they assured me it was.'
Once again, Hannah's passion and determination shone through and, after placing 11th in the World Sailing Championships in Argentina at the beginning of the year, she was selected for the Paris Olympic Games.
She's now spending time between her Portland home, to where she moved in 2020, and in Marseille, where the sailing events will take place. UK-time is largely spent in the gym, on the bike and weight lifting, while in France she's on the water every other day, getting used to the local conditions, before heading over to the Olympic camp on July 19.
Hannah's parents will be watching from their Lymington home, while she has '26 at last count' family and friends heading out to support her in Marseille.
'It's been such a long project,' she says. 'It's a really weird mix of emotions. Part of me doesn't want it to be over — post-Games blues is a real thing. But there's enough in my calendar afterwards to have things to think about and do.'
And her plans for the future?
'First off, for a good performance at the Olympics. —obviously we're aiming for a medal. To be the best version of myself is a current goal.
'Longer term,, there's a lot I'd like to do around grass roots, making sailing more accessible. Aan opportunity to give something back.'
