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After almost a lifetime chasing an Olympic dream, sailor Hannah Snellgrove was finally named on Britain's Olympic squad, the 11th sailor to join the team bidding for Games glory at Paris 2024.

Snellgrove's selection for the competition, to be staged 660 kilometres from the French capital at Marseille Marina from July 28-Aug. 8, marks the end of a very long and bumpy road for the 33-year-old -- one which has seen plenty of heartache, and obstacles which would have derailed many a lesser athlete.

"I think it would be fair to say I've taken the scenic route," Snellgrove said on joining the Team GB line-up on Friday. "It's really humbling to think of all the things that people have done to help me during the course of my career."

A promising junior sailor, Snellgrove was forced to take two years out after contracting the Epstein Barr Virus and M.E. aged 16, before bouncing back to be selected for Britain's Olympic Training Group in 2009. 

Having deferred a year while studying at Cambridge to train for and participate in London 2012 Olympic trials, she missed out on that team and instead worked with commentary teams at the Games spectator site.

Plenty of international dinghy sailing success followed, but she lost her place in the British Sailing Team late in 2014 which put paid to Rio 2016 ambitions. Financial constraints forced her to quit full-time sailing, and stints in journalism, coaching, songwriting and performing followed.

A return to the water saw Snellgrove reselected to the British team in 2018, and 2019 was her most successful year to date, culminating in a seventh-placed finish at the World Championships.

It was not enough to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics, though, and the laser dinghy sailor switched her sights once again, this time to Paris.

"It's the biggest honour to be selected for Team GB," said the athlete from Lymington, the major yachting centre on England's south coast. "It has been quite the 26-year project since first setting foot in a boat." 

Team GB's Chef de Mission Mark England echoed the sentiment. "Hannah has shown a huge amount of tenacity and resilience throughout her sailing career, and I am delighted that she will be able to fulfil her Olympic ambitions this summer in Marseille," he said. REUTERS