Hannah Mills: Making waves in climate change

S15 Ep 8

Today’s guest is the most successful female sailor in Olympic history - Hannah Mills OBE.

Hannah won a silver medal for Team GB alongside Saskia Clark at London 2012, before the pair went on to win Gold in Rio 2016. Hannah retained her Olympic title with new partner, Eilidh McIntyre at the Tokyo Games in 2021, and was also the Team GB flagbearer for those games.

Off the water Hannah’s hugely passionate about the environment. She’s an International Olympic Committee Sustainability Ambassador, who launched the Big Plastic Pledge in 2019, and co-founded Athletes of the World, an athlete group campaigning for positive impact around climate change. 

In 2021, Hannah joined Sir Ben Ainslie’s SailGP Team as its first female sailor as part of SailGP’s Women’s Pathway Programme. And in 2022 she returned to the water just a few months after the arrival of baby Sienna.

Hannah was awarded an MBE in 2017 & an OBE in 2022, for her services to sailing and the environment.

From her first experience on the water, through an extraordinary Olympic career, Hannah talks so openly about her journey to become the most decorated female sailor in Olympic history.

Her journey since Tokyo has also been incredible, and we explore Hannah’s transition to a SailGP team on the Women’s Pathway and what the future holds for women in this very male dominated sport.

Hannah is refreshingly honest about the challenges faced in returning to sport after having a baby, and it’s wonderful to learn about the support from SailGP that’s made this possible. 

Thank you to Sport England who support The Game Changers Podcast with a National Lottery grant.

Find out more about The Game Changers podcast here: https://www.fearlesswomen.co.uk/thegamechangers

Hosted by Sue Anstiss
Produced by Sam Walker, What Goes On Media

A Fearless Women production