‘I wasn’t ready for Rio Olympics final . . . but I’ll nail it this time’

“People come up to me and say I am the one who inspired them to get into shooting and that is such an amazing feeling. I do still get some looks and then people say, ‘Oh, it’s Amber Hill.’ ”

Hill is a prime example of an athlete who used her first Olympics to work out what it takes to win gold the next time. When she set off for Rio in 2016, she thought she was ready to stun the world but quickly realised she had much to learn about the art of elite competition.

“I thought I was 100 per cent prepared, that I had done everything,” she says. “But when I got into the final I started comparing myself to other people, thinking I’m very young. I was pleased at coming sixth but I learnt so much.”

She was extremely young, and at 18 it was, with hindsight, asking a lot for her to handle the pressure. The problem was she began representing her country aged 14 and a year later flew to Acapulco with her grandfather, where she won World Cup gold. “I’ve worked on technique and pre-shot routines to make myself an all-round athlete,” she says. “Whatever you throw at me, I’ll be ready for it. I’m not going to waste the opportunity this time.”

Evidence that she really could grasp the Olympic title this summer came with her victory in the women’s skeet at the International Shooting Sport Federation World Cup in India last month. Hill shot the highest qualification score in the women’s skeet. She also shot a higher score than any male competitor, which raises the question: why does there need to be a separation of the sexes in the first place?

“I shot a 124/125 in New Delhi and it was the highest qualification score on the day,” Hill says. “There were no hard feelings, a lot of men were coming up to me to congratulate me.

“In India, I beat all the guys in qualification 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. I feel it’s great that it’s 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.”

Her world title came after a sudden-death shoot-out against Zoya Kravchenko in which Hill hit all four targets and her opponent hit three.

“The shoot-out is definitely when the nerves start to kick in,” Hill, who has recently bought a house near the National Shooting Centre in Bisley, Surrey, says. “But that makes it really exciting for the spectators.”

She held her nerve thanks in part to the lengthy preparation with the British Shooting psychologist Paul Hughes, working on her breathing and calming down her heart rate.

“You can’t stop negative thoughts popping up in your brain,” she says. “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 OK to be nervous. It’s been a real game-changer for me. I think about the positive stuff, being grateful to be there.

Hill says that she would be happy — and would feel confident — if given the opportunity to compete against male shooters

SAM GREENWOOD/GETTY IMAGES

“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. It was a sudden-death shoot-off in New Delhi, but I do quite enjoy them because it all comes down to that and all eyes are on you.”

Does she take her shots in between heartbeats? “I’m not really sure to be honest,” she says. “I probably do but I don’t give it too much thought. Your heart is pumping out your chest, so I calm myself down for the next shot.”

Her success aged 15 in Mexico came against the odds. Hill did not even hold the gun properly and had to be remoulded. “I’ve really improved and it’s levelled out now,” she says. “I haven’t worked with a technical coach for the last year.”

This is mainly down to the pandemic and the fact Per Moen, the coach to whom she opted to switch in January last year, lives in Norway and she has no desire whatsoever to be coached via Zoom.

I went skeet shooting with Hill just before the Rio Games and she says she must have been “a crazy woman” but no, she was notably calm.

“Maybe I was going off on one in my head,” she says smiling at her younger self.

In Tokyo, she says, she will feel that she belongs among the elite and “the energy I use will be spent on myself rather than worrying about what other people are doing or worrying what’s happening behind me, who is running around”.

One reason for plotting a business venture is that having started competing seriously aged 14 she does not want to be tied to a sport that can accommodate its competitors into their 60s.

“I’m not sure I want to shoot for ever,” she says. “The business could be exciting, we’ll have to wait and see. Everyone’s trying to guess.”

She insists that looking good helps her confidence but when I point out that she was able to win in India without visiting a salon, she counters that had she had the full beauty treatment, she might have scored a perfect 125/125.

“I’ve got my lashes booked in, my hairdresser is a challenge, everywhere is so busy,” she says. “I dyed my boyfriend’s hair, and it did not go to plan, it went yellowy. Do not let me loose on my own hair.”

● Amber Hill is working with Purplebricks to encourage the nation to get behind Team GB on their journey to Tokyo. Visit @PurplebricksUK for more info