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A NORTH Hampshire schoolteacher has her sights set on London 2012 after playing hockey for Great Britain in Beijing, writes John Boyman.

Alex Danson, who is a hockey coach at Lord Wandsworth College, played in all six of Britain's matches at the Olympics and even managed to get her name on the scoresheet.

Having travelled home with the rest of Britain's remarkably successful Olympic team on Monday, she is determined to be involved when the Games come to London in four years' time.

"The Olympics were a brilliant experience and I am hungry to do it again," the 23-year-old said.

"2012 is a huge thing for me and will be the highlight of any British player's career.

"I am always very mindful that anything can happen, but I will be trying as hard as I can to make sure I'm in London."

Danson injured an ankle shortly before the tournament and feared that she would miss the Games.

However, the forward recovered in time to make her Olympic debut in Britain's opening Pool B game against Germany, a match they lost 5-1.

"Making my Olympic debut was probably even more special because I thought I might not be able to play," she explained.

"I just felt extremely lucky but soon got my mind on the game. That match did not go the way we would have wanted, but we managed to pick ourselves up."

Britain came back from two goals down to draw 2-2 with Argentina in their second match, but Danson's finest moment of the tournament came in the following game against New Zealand.

With her team a goal down early on, Danson showed good reactions to deflect a high ball into the net as Britain came back to win 2-1.

"It was incredible to score," she said. "It was amazing just to be there, so to make an impact on the scoreboard was superb."

Danson, who lives in Odiham, broke a thumb playing against Japan, a game Britain won 2-1, but still took to the field against the United States in her team's final pool game.

A 0-0 draw proved not to be enough to earn Britain a place in the semi-finals but Danson also featured in the fifth and sixth place play-off, which they lost 2-0 to Australia.

Despite her injury problems, Danson was pleased with the way she played and is encouraged by the performance of the British team.

"We were ranked at nine going into the Olympics and to move up three places in one tournament is fantastic," she said. "If we carry on in the same way we could be pushing to be on the podium come 2012."

12:26pm Friday 29th August 2008

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