Crackles relishing Team GB Olympic medal hunt
Fiona Crackles (right) won a bronze medal with Team GB at the Tokyo Games in 2021
- Published
Team GB field hockey player Fiona Crackles "cannot wait" for the Olympic Games this summer and said her experience will be key to her and the team's success.
Cumbrian native Crackles is hoping to build on the bronze medal she won in Tokyo in 2021 and expects to play a bigger role in Paris after a pandemic-hit event three years ago.
The 24-year-old said she has "developed as a person and player" since, and is relishing playing in front of crowds after they were not allowed previously.
"I'm definitely more experienced and less naive. Both things help," she told BBC Look North.
"I loved my experience in Tokyo, but it is nice to know I have a solid role in the team. I feel like I've developed myself, not just as player but as a person."
She added: "Going into Tokyo I'd predominantly played with no crowds because I was new into the team. It was the best introduction because it was the best way to ease in to international hockey.
"Now I'm used to playing in front of people. I can't wait for the atmosphere and my family to come over."
Crackles is relishing the task ahead and said she is going into the tournament with greater inner confidence.
"We are so lucky we get to go as a group of 16 and we have each other and we'll be in that environment through the highs and lows. I know myself a bit more, I know how I want to play, I know the stamp I want to put out there."
The thought of winning a medal and sharing in the moment with her family, whom she credits with her progress, is motivating Crackles to succeed in the French capital.
"It gives me goosebumps thinking about it," she said.
"It would be super special, winning the medal is everything you dream for. It is taking the medal home and showing it to your friends, your family.
"That is the feeling you love. If it wasn't for them, I'd not be here; all the ferrying me around roads in Cumbria and Yorkshire to get me places."
The Olympic Games run from 26 July to 11 August.