Bankier dares to dream

Bankier will represent Great Britain together with Chris Adcock in the mixed doubles at the Games, after qualifying ahead of Olympic silver medallist Nathan Robertson and Jenny Wallwork.

And the 24-year-old Scot, who won a silver medal at the World Championships at Wembley last August, believes she has a real chance of realising her dream this year - if the pair can find some consistency.

"That's what keeps you going every day," she said. "That's what I think about when I am training.

"I have been dreaming about it and I just hope we can put in the types of performances we know we will need to do to get into those medal positions.

"If you have a world silver medal - and we have since beaten the world champions twice - I would definitely say we are medal contenders.

"But we are ranked 10 in the world so that shows we haven't been consistent this year. So I wouldn't say it was expected but I would say we have a really good chance of a medal."

Bankier will be helped by her badminton hero Robertson, despite causing his retirement by ousting him from the Olympic team.

Robertson, 35, is widely regarded as Britain's greatest badminton player, and Bankier is hoping to tap into his knowledge and experience ahead of and during the games.

"I genuinely think Nathan Robertson was one of the best players of all time," she said. "I'm not ashamed to say he is my favourite player ever.

"His achievements have been absolutely outstanding. He has won everything beside Olympic gold. He's won world championship gold and Olympic silver, he is just an outstanding player.

"It is a shame that the way the Olympics work, only one pair can qualify. It would have been a fantastic end to his career.

"But we are competing against them and I am happy to say that we beat them twice at the end of his career. I just hope that now we can learn a lot from him.

"He has such a fantastic insight and knowledge of the game and I look forward to working with him a little bit and hoping to get some of his advice, I think it will be invaluable.

"He said he is really keen to help us which is absolutely fantastic. We have so much to learn and he has experience.

"He knows exactly what it is like at an Olympics and if he is willing to help then I just want to get all the help I can."