“I’M sure I’ve been a terrible daughter, sister and friend and missed every significant event in everyone’s life,” jokes Olympic sailor Saskia Clarke.


The chance to compete in the Olympics doesn’t come without its sacrifices and Saskia has dedicated her life to her sport. She’ll fulfill a childhood dream when she competes in the 470 women’s sailing class with her partner Heather Mills next month.
The first of the 11 races is set to take place in Weymouth on Friday 3 August and if they take home a gold medal they will the first British women in history to do so.


I spoke to Saskia late one evening, after her daily sailing, gym and physiotherapy sessions had finally finished for the day.
Sounding upbeat and positive, she showed no sign of flagging under the pressure of the impending Olympic Games.
Saskia says: “It is certainly becoming more real now because we are looking at it as a matter of weeks rather than the Olympics being many months away.
“There are little jobs on the boat that we need to do that we have put off because we think we have lots of time and now the little jobs are building up and there’s not much time!”
 

The 470 women’s sailing class has been around since 1988 but has never yielded a single medal, despite six attempts at landing one.
Does this add to the pressure for the girls?
Saskia, 33, says: “There is pressure but we can’t look at the bigger picture of being the first British women to take gold because it would be too much.
“We are trying to keep things intimate and concentrate on every single race rather than the overall outcome.”
Saskia’s days start at 9am when she heads straight out for a day of sailing with Hannah. Then she has an hour and a half gym session followed by some physiotherapy which finished around 9pm.


This level of dedication can have a big strain on competitors.
Her former sailing partner Sarah Ayton decided she was unable to continue and left in 2011. It came after she struggled to juggle the demands of the sport and family life with her husband, windsurfer Nick Dempsey and young son Thomas-Flynn.
Saskia says: “I had seen Sarah struggling to juggle everything and something had to give. I think she made the right decision for her. It takes a lot commitment and it is very intense training at this level – it is not easy to get a balance in your life.”
 

After Sarah left, Saskia had only three months before the Olympic trial to find a new sailing partner.
She jumped into a boat with Hannah Mills, a 23 year old former 420 World Champion who had no Olympic experience but plenty of talent.
Saskia says: “Hannah and I didn’t have a chance to not get along! We just had to get on with things and not pussy foot around - there has been no room for any egos.”
They got off to a great start and in their first competition they got a silver medal then another at Skandia Sail for Gold in 2011, followed by another at the Olympic Test event and a fourth at the ISAF World Championships in Perth in December.
A major triumph was winning the 470 Worlds in Barcelona in May - and becoming the first ever British women to do so in the process.


It is not Saskia’s first Olympics and she competed in Beijing in 2008. She now believes that herself and Hannah have what it takes to succeed.
She says: “There is a big age gap between us and I think that works well. Because she is young she doesn’t have the experience but she definitely has the raw talent and I have been able to help her raise her game.”
 

Saskia has had to make sacrifices along the way in order to continue in the sport.
She says: “I am sure I have been a terrible daughter, sister and friend and missed every significant event in everyone’s life like birthday, weddings and funerals,” jokes Saskia.
“But I know everyone is proud of me and I am living out a childhood dream now, something I did not think would happen when I started out.”
Saskia started sailing when she was a child growing up in west Mersea.
“My mum and dad were keen sailors and I remember actually hating it at first and there was a lot of crying! I had a natural talent for it and by 11 I was really into it.
There must be something in the water in west Mersea because Paralympic sailor Hannah Stodel will also be competing in the Paralympics this year.