Hannah Mills OBE

Sailor Hannah Mills OBE from the Vale of Glamorgan is Wales’ most successful Olympian. She has won medals at three consecutive Olympic games – 1 silver and 2 gold.

She was born in Cardiff and began sailing at Cardiff Sailing Centre (then Llanishen Sailing Centre) when she was 8 years old after trying sailing on a family holiday in Cornwall. She began sailing for the Welsh National Optimist Squad and won the British Optimist Championships in 2001.

She won a silver in London 2012 and a gold medal in Rio in 2016 with established partner Saskia Clark. When Clark retired from Olympic sailing following the Rio Olympics, Hannah needed to find a new partner and teamed up with Eilidh McIntyre.

In their first competition together, they won the World Cup Series final in Spain followed by a silver at the 470 World Championships. A gold medal at the Tokyo Olympic Games has made Hannah the most successful Olympic sailor.

After travelling all over the world and spending time in Rio ahead of the Olympic Games there in 2016 and seeing so much plastic littering beaches, marinas and harbours all over the world, she became an International Olympic Committee Sustainability Ambassador and recently launched the Big Plastic Pledge, which aims to eradicate single-use plastic in sports.