MBE for Inverurie swimming star Hannah Miley
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INVERURIE swimmer Hannah Miley, who celebrated the end of an incredible 15 year career last year, is to be made an MBE for her services to the sport.
Swimming veteran Hannah, who represented Scotland and the UK at European and World Championships, Commonwealth and Olympic Games, won a staggering 50 medals across the world stage.
The MBE award is being made on behalf of the athlete's services to sport and women in sport.
Hannah said: "It was a mixture of emotions when I found out.
"Shock, pure happiness and joy. It was kind of a mix between those!
"It was just a lovely lovely surprise and I was lucky enough that my mother was here when I got the letter, so I opened it with her.
"We both kind of shed a tear together which was really nice."
Starting at the Garioch Amateur Swimming Club in Inverurie, coached by her father, Hannah's career has taken her across the world.
Highlights from her career include qualifying in 2008 for her first Olympics in Beijing and winning Gold in 2010 at the European Championships in Hungary in the 400m Individual Medley event, setting a new championship record.
In Delhi, she won Gold in the 400m Individual Medley setting a new Games record.
Her successes continued, winning Silver at the FINA World Championships in 2011 and qualifying for the London Olympics in 2012.
At the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, she retained her 400m Individual Medley crown.
She is one of Britain’s longest serving athletes, competing in four consecutive Commonwealth Games, three Olympic Games and remaining in the World Top 10 rankings for the past 16 years with her first international medal at the European Junior Championships in 2005.
Despite her incredible success, Hannah still struggles to believe that she is receiving the honor.
She said: "It is just bizarre! I am lost for words, for once.
"I didn't go into swimming with the aim that I was going to come away with an MBE, or anything like that, off the back of it.
"So to be nominated for the award and for it to be accepted, makes me feel very proud of what I have achieved.
"It was just such a really nice surprise that someone thought my achievements were worth putting forward for it.
"I feel very honoured and proud about it."
Throughout her career, Hannah has always benefited from the strong support of her family.
She said: "I have always been a family girl and valued my family support an awful lot and I wouldn't have been the athlete I was without all that.
"The hard work and effort that the whole family has put in, because it wasn't just me who did it.
"So, for services to sport, I owe everything to my family.
"My dad Patrick and my mum Carmel, my two younger brothers as well Alastair and Joey.
"A huge special mention to my fiancé Ewen, he has been a great rock and support system for me really."
Hannah is now on a mission to inform the sports industry about the role of menstruation in women's sport.
Find the Flow, her new project, involves delivering a series of workshops on the topic to athletes, coaches and parents.
Hannah said: "Being a female athlete assumed I thought I knew what my body was about and how it worked and actually there was quite a lot I didn't know.
"And I realised actually how much potential there was and I had a bit of a rough time with my menstrual cycle when I was younger.
"And, at the time, the research said: 'Just go on a contraceptive pill and that will fix the problem.'
"Those two words - fix and problem - shouldn't be associated with young girls and women because your menstrual cycle isn't a problem and it shouldn't be fixed.
"It should be something that you work with and celebrate for being a healthy individual.
"There is a statistic that 87 per cent of girls will, once they hit puberty in school, drop out of sport.
"I am just really hopeful about breaking down the barriers and stereotypes so we can retain more girls in sport."
Hannah's MBE marks the end of a long journey and the beginning of another.
Despite all her other top achievements and new direction, she is overwhelmed by her new honour.
She said: "Hopefully the words will find me at some point but I just feel really honoured and privileged to have been nominated for it and to get the award.
"It is quite a proud moment for me and I am happy with it."
