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The Journey to Tokyo: An Interview with Hannah Mills MBE

19/07/2021

For Hannah Mills MBE and all of the Olympians and Paralympians making their way to Japan for the 2020 Summer Olympics (which was originally scheduled to take place last year but was postponed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic), the past 12-months have been marked by a great deal of uncertainty.

With the Tokyo Olympic Games just around the corner, we are delighted to bring you this recorded chat between Steele Raymond Chairman and Partner Tim Stone, from his home office in Dorset, and Olympic gold medalist Hannah, from the British Sailing basecamp in Tokyo.

Proud sponsors

For the past four years, Steele Raymond have been sponsoring and supporting Hannah in her bid to become the most successful female Olympic sailor of all time, providing legal advice and guidance on all aspects of her sporting and personal life, including the launch of her environmental protection and sustainability project the Big Plastic Pledge.

Speaking about her relationship with the firm in 2019, Hannah said:

“Steele Raymond has been a fantastic support network for Eilidh and I in our campaign towards Tokyo. They take so much of the pressure off in terms of the legal side of things, dealing with sponsorship contracts, putting things in place for us that just allows us to get on the water and do our job without worrying about things that could ultimately pull the campaign apart but if they are dealt with properly then they are no problem at all. It’s been a fantastic partnership for us, and we can’t wait to carry on working with them.”

In the video, Tim and Hannah reflect on her road to Tokyo, the challenges in maintaining a positive mindset and the importance of always enjoying the journey despite the inevitable setbacks.

VIDEO TRANSCRIPTION

Tim Stone:

Well, Hannah, lovely to see you. Thank you so much for, for sparing a bit of time. It’s great, great to see you. And how are you? How was the, how was the flight?

Hannah Mills:

I’m good, yes. The flight was actually quite eventful. We, we took off at the right time, about half past three on Friday, then we got about 40 minutes in, and the pilot came on the to say we’re going to have to turn around and go back to Heathrow, because the landing gear wouldn’t come up.

Tim Stone:

Oh, no.

Hannah Mills:

So, we went back to Heathrow, and stayed there for about three or four hours whilst they figured out whether they could fix the plane. Fixed the plane and off we went again. So, yes, it wasn’t the best start, but it kind of summed up the last 18 months probably.

Tim Stone:

I was going to say, Hannah, I mean, you couldn’t, you almost couldn’t write it, could you? You’ve had all this delay and build up and then when you finally get on the plane to get going, you have to turn around. But you’re, but you’re there now. And what, I mean, what have the last sort of 18 months been like, they’ve been tough for everyone, haven’t they? But, but for you guys, in particular, there’s been a huge disappointment, initially, if not being able to do the Games last year, but, you know, how have you sort of coped with all that?

Hannah Mills:

Yes, it’s been, it’s been really up and down, sort of emotionally, like you said, for everyone. For us, it’s kind of the same, just with the, the Olympics, not knowing what’s going to happen, if it’s going to get cancelled, and then it got postponed. And yes, I guess we, we just have to sort of constantly be changing our mindset from, you know, building up to an Olympic Games to resetting that, to just be more in a training phase, and just trying to get our mindset right for like what phase we’re in. So that you can just stay positive, be happy, and enjoy, enjoy the journey as best you can. You know, even though so much of it’s unknown a lot of the time. I can control the things we can and try not to worry about the things we can’t.

Tim Stone:

Yes. I mean, how do you, you know, to the ordinary person like me, how, how do you sort of maintain that focus and that sort of end goal where you’ve got this sometimes-moving target? It’s a huge challenge, but how do you do that, Hannah?

Hannah Mills:

Yes, it is really challenging. And I mean, everyone’s different. I definitely find breaking it down, like a lot of people probably, are breaking it down into smaller, smaller goals for a timeframe that you, that is more certain is really helpful. Obviously, you still have to have the big picture in mind of the whole, the whole thing, but yes, smaller goals and smaller timeframe. And I think you’ve got to get good at letting go of what you can’t control. And that’s, I think in life anyway, that’s really important as well. And it’s something I’ve definitely got a lot better at this last 18 months. Yes.

Tim Stone:

Yes. No, well, we can sort of all take some of that, can’t we, into our, our own lives? I think that’s really, really great advice. So the, the Olympic Village, I mean, us guys, we sort of see this on television, but you’re there. just describe that feeling when you arrive, and you sort of walk into it all for the first time.

Hannah Mills:

Yes. So, we’re, for this Olympics, we’re not in the village actually, because of everything with COVID. The sailing team, we’ve literally got, the British sailing team, we’ve got our own base, which is a big conference centre in, in the little village. And it’s actually amazing. We’ve, we’ve really lucked out. We’ve had to adhere to a lot of COVID protocols and get a lot of things in place to be allowed to stay here and get it sort of accredited as a, as a proper Olympic accommodation option. But, a lot of the teams are now in the village when they hadn’t planned on being in there. Yes, I think there’s going to be a lot of people that are a bit, a bit jealous probably of the setup we’ve got. Yes, there’s a lot of rules in the village, I think. And, and whilst we’ve got a lot of rules, we’re in a sort of our own bubble, so it’s a bit more relaxed, rather than sharing with other nations.

Tim Stone:

Yes. because you’re, of course you’re not sort of sailing sailor, are you, on this occasion? It just you’re with, with your partner and just, just tell us about that and how that’s going, and how Eilidh’s doing and all of that.

Hannah Mills:

Yes. So, this, so I’m sailing with Eilidh McIntyre. This is Eilidh’s first Olympics. So, she’s obviously, unbelievably excited. I mean, I’m excited too, but yes, she’s just buzzing to be here. You know, we’ve got all the Team GB branding up, all the Olympic branding up around the accommodation. Yes, it’s such a… You know, it’s such a cool thing to be a part of. So, we’re just, I think we’re just so happy to be here. Like it just never, even like three weeks ago, we just weren’t a hundred percent sure we were actually getting here, and it was going to happen. So yes, that’s probably overarching feeling.

Tim Stone:

Yes, probably 40 minutes into that flight, as well, you were wondering.

Hannah Mills:

Yes, exactly.

Tim Stone:

Hannah, I mean, this is your third Olympics, isn’t it? And does it feel any different the third time? Do you get used to it? What, what are the sorts of feelings you have?

Hannah Mills:

It does feel different, definitely. I think you, you obviously are more used to it and, and the hype and all the little cool things you get to do, but I guess this is such a different Olympics and it’s been five years since the last one I’ve been at, which is actually quite a long time. So, and, and we’ve not had any, many, or many big competitions, which is where you sort of get that, that feeling of nerves and excitement and the same things you get at the Games. Maybe not quite as big, but yes. So it feels like a long time since I’ve done anything quite like the Olympic Games. So yes, it’s pretty exciting still.

Tim Stone:

And, and the, the sort of build up, you’ve, you’ve got sort of the heats coming up a little bit later on in the month, but once you actually get on the water and, and sort of get, get going and, and do all that.

Hannah Mills:

Yes, so we’ve got four more days where we’re not allowed on the water, but we are allowed to the boat park. So, we’ve, today, we were unloading containers, getting our boats out. So, we’re just going to get them rigged up, ready to go. So, we’ve got two boats here, one we’ll use and one is a spare. So, get all that sorted and then be ready to sail. On the 15th, I believe we’re allowed.

Tim Stone:

Yes. I bet you can’t wait.

Hannah Mills:

Yes, it’ll be amazing. It’ll be amazing.

Tim Stone:

Yes. Fantastic. Well, I mean, Hannah, we’ve got sort of the whole of, the whole of the UK, in particular, all of us at at Steele Raymond, are absolutely rooting for you. Third Olympics, and it’s going to be absolutely fantastic. And we’re, we’re really looking forward to watching you and we’re all, we’re all rooting for you. Have an amazing time, Hannah. I think, you know, we, we were talking recently, where when, I think this is, this is a special time, it’s a very special Olympics for lots of reasons. It’s quite a poignant Olympics. And I think, you know, we just wish you, you and your fellow competitors all the very best. But just to enjoy the experience, I think, who would have known whether we would have even been able to have done this, even a few months ago. So just the fact that you guys are there, I think is a privilege, in and of itself. But I know you won’t be thinking that on, when you’re on the water.

You’ll just be wanting to win. And good for you.

Hannah Mills:

Exactly. Awesome. Well, thanks. And thank you so much to everyone at Steele Raymond, for your support as well, over the last 3 or 4, 5 years, whatever we’re up to, it’s been so many years. It’s been awesome. So, thank you ever so much.

Tim Stone:

It’s our pleasure, Hannah.

To find out more about Hannah and to follow her journey at Tokyo 2020 visit her website www.hannahmills.com.

Author

Tim Stone

Partner and Chairman

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