Zara Dampney, who represented Great Britain alongside Shauna Mullin in the beach volleyball women’s doubles at the Olympics, tells Metro she believes only some of the London 2012 fans turned up for the girls in small bikinis.

Zara Dampney
Zara Dampney originally played volleyball before converting to the beach version (Picture: EPA)

The pair won their first match before bowing out in the group stage.Usually competing on the World Tour, they last year sold advertising space on their bikinis.

How was your overall Olympic experience?It was really good. Sadly, I only got to watch more beach volleyball and an indoor volleyball match as we were just so tired. I’m feeling it now!

Did you buzz off the home support at Horse Guards Parade?It was a really different experience from playing on Centre Court on the usual World Tour circuit. We have played in front of 10,000-plus crowds before in Austria and Rome but they are usually against us. The test event last year gave us a taste of what was to come.

Zara Dampney, Shauna Mullins
Zara Dampney and Shauna Mullins became the first beach volleyball pair to represent Team GB in the Olympics (Picture: PA)

Will young girls want to be the next Zara and Shauna now?I hope so – it is a really important thing for us to inspire the next British beach volleyball players if we can. I have heard a lot about kids wanting to come and give it a go so that’s positive.

What do you do now it’s all over?It’s a chance to rest, see friends and family, take some time out. We’ll see how we feel before we think about Rio de Janeiro in 2016 but the taste we have had of the Olympics definitely makes you feel like you want more.

Who got you starstruck at the athletes’ village?There were all kinds of famous faces around, like Ryan Giggs, but the main thing was that everyone was so normal. You feel a real bond with the athletes from other sports when you are all in the Team GB kit.

Zara Dampney
Zara Dampney helped Team GB to one beach volleyball win at London 2012, when her and Shauna Mullins beat Canada (Picture: EPA)

What are your long-terms ambitions now the Games are over?Shauna and I would ideally like to play on until Rio and beyond. But we would also like to get a World Tour event played over here – that would be fantastic. And I think we’ve shown people will come and watch. There are more beach volleyball venues cropping up all the time in the UK.

And how about the bikini talk? Do you feel people are talking about the sport for the right reasons now?I think some people may have turned up thinking about that [the outfits] but they will have gone away talking about how good the sport is and, hopefully, about coming to watch us again.