‘Sex and the Olympics – why not?’

Olympic Body: Zara Dampney - beach volleyball

Age: 25

From: Bournemouth

Weight: 65kg

Height: 180cm (5ft 11in)

Motto: Keep on fighting

Medals: Beach volleyball British champion, 2011, with Shauna Mullin.

Training: We train six days a week for about six hours a day. We always do one sand session a day, sometimes two, where we concentrate on improving technique. We also work on our passing, setting, hitting and ball control. The rest of our training is made up of weight sessions in the gym as well as cardio and core work.

Diet and food: I eat a lot of protein every day. I tend to have a bigger breakfast and lunch and then smaller portions in the evening. Because we train hard we’re likely to have lean bodies and not much fat but how I look is not the most important thing to me. I don’t understand the fascination with our kit. I do wish people would look at the sport, rather than the outfits.

Drinks: I tend to drink a lot of water and also electrolytes. I like ginger tea with lemon when I wake up — it’s good for detoxing.

Treats: Sometimes we do eat treats as I believe in everything in moderation. I really like any type of cheese at all — runny, blue or cheddar, it doesn’t really matter. And I like crisps, as long as they’re cheesy.

Beauty: We’re in the sun a lot so I use a really high factor sun cream. We always buy it in Australia and New Zealand because it’s really good there, so we buy lots. At the moment I’m using Neutrogena Factor 70. I also moisturise my skin but any old moisturiser will do.

Hair: I don’t really do anything with it except use some Moroccan Oil. It helps keep it smooth and looks good too.