HILL Amber

General
IMPROVING ON RIO 2016
She believes she has progressed since the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, where she made the skeet final at age 18. "Back in 2016 at the last Olympics, I felt completely ready and that I knew everything I needed to know. In the final, I recognised my lack of experience and I started comparing myself to the other athletes. Everyone else had been in an Olympic final before and I hadn't. I felt really under-prepared mentally. I realised it wasn't my time and I was disappointed not to come away with a medal, but I'm excited to have that second opportunity to put into practice what I've learned and hopefully come home with a medal [from the 2020 Games in Tokyo]." (purplebricks.com, 15 Apr 2021; thetimes.co.uk, 12 Apr 2021)

GENDER EQUALITY
In 2021 she said she would be eager to participate in mixed-gender competition. At the 2021 World Cup event in New Delhi, India, her skeet qualification score was higher than any of the men's. "I shot a 124/125 in New Delhi and it was the highest qualification score on the day. There were no hard feelings - a lot of men were coming up to me to congratulate me. I beat all the guys, and that is a great message to send out to women that there is a sport out there where there is no reason why we can't compete against the men and be better than them. It's great that shooting is so accessible for women. I'd be happy taking on the men. I shoot the same gun as the guys do, the only thing that is different is that my stock will be smaller because I am smaller. We shoot the same cartridges, the same gun, the same event on the same day. Everything is exactly the same. We put in the same amount of work. I'd like to compete against the men, but until they let me, I'll just say I'll beat them." (thetimes.co.uk, 12 Apr 2021)

GRANDFATHER TRIBUTE
In June 2019 her grandfather Bill Rogers passed away. She credits the influence he had on her career. "My grandad wasn't just my grandad, he was my biggest fan and my mentor from the first day I picked up a gun. Regardless of the good or bad days, he just wanted me to push myself to see how far I could get, and when I got to the [2016] Olympics in Rio it was a dream come true that he was able to be there with me. Until the day he passed, he was on his iPad watching every competition I was doing. I competed right through the period when he passed away because I knew it was what he wanted." (purplebricks.com, 15 Apr 2021; sportsmole.co.uk, 13 Apr 2021)

OVERCOMING NERVES
In 2020 she started working with British Shooting psychologist Paul Hughes, whose preparation techniques have focused on controlling her breathing and heart rate during competition. "You can't stop negative thoughts popping up in your brain. But learning how to manage those thoughts and to take productive action from them, I feel is a lot of what we've been working on. It's okay to be nervous. It's been a real game-changer for me. I think about the positive stuff - being grateful to be there. When you think about good things the bad stuff doesn't pop up nearly so much. I've learnt a lot by seeing the good in things. It comes down to who can hold their nerve the longest, when all eyes are on you." (thetimes.co.uk, 12 Apr 2021; theindependent.co.uk, 12 Apr 2021)

FASHIONISTA
She is a qualified beautician and has spoken of her desire to pursue a career in the fashion industry. "Fashion is a huge part of my life. I've always been creative and wanted to express myself. I've tried to combine these two loves [shooting and fashion] and bring a bit of colour into the sport. [British sprinter] Dina [Asher-Smith] always looks amazing and she's a massive inspiration to women in sport, showing that you can have a glamorous side and still be determined and focused on what you do. I do want to go into the fashion industry in some form, I don't want to rely on having to go into coaching in the future and I want to give myself options." (purpl