Claiming an Olympic title may be the pinnacle of most athletes’ careers, yet for Team GB hockey star Sophie Bray, it marks just the beginning.
The forward was a key part of the side that won that historic gold medal in Rio, scoring goals against Argentina and the USA in the group stages, and winning her 50th cap in Great Britain colours in their quarter-final victory over Spain.
The gold medal, secured after a dramatic penalty shoot-out against the reigning Olympic champions, the Netherlands, was the culmination of four years of hard work after the team won bronze at London 2012.
However, instead of letting themselves get caught up in the moment and marvel at what they had just achieved, the very next day the attentions of Bray and her teammates had firmly switched to what was next.
“The morning after we won Olympic gold our coach Danny Kerry called a meeting and said ‘right girls, the next challenge is winning after winning,’” she said.
“That is ultimately the biggest challenge and with a home World Cup in 2018 on the horizon it would be pretty special to carry that out.
“We’re an ambitious side and there’s some good young talent coming through. For sure we’re going to greatly miss some of the girls that do retire but it’s a new adventure for us as a team and a squad.”
Inspirational captain Kate Richardson-Walsh, recently nominated for BBC Sports Personality of the Year in recognition of her achievements on the hockey pitch, has already officially confirmed her retirement, having led the team for 13 years and amassed 375 caps.
There are also suggestions that others may follow in her footsteps in hanging up their sticks, with the squad headed for Tokyo 2020 expected to be very different to that of this year.
But while any retirements would be huge losses to the national set-up, Bray insists there are plenty of young players ready to step into their shoes and take British hockey to the next level.
“I think it will be no different to what happened after London,” she said. “There will always be a few retirements and with retirements there’s an opportunity for new guys to come in.
“After London it was the time for the likes of Lily Owsley, Hollie Webb, Giselle Ansley and myself to come in, so it’s a constant turnover.
“We will certainly miss Kate. She will be a huge loss both for her leadership qualities on and off the pitch. She is a quality player and I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to play alongside her.”
With the potential loss of so many experienced players, Bray will now be viewed as one of the more senior members of the squad, despite only being 26.
However, she could not be more excited at the prospect of not only nurturing the next generation of talented youngsters, but also encouraging as many people as possible across the nation to take up the game.
“Having been a new player myself in 2012 I was fortunate enough to play under the leadership and experience of people like Kate, Helen [Richardson-Walsh] and Alex Danson,” she said.
“That is so important for the young players so for sure it is our role as senior players to help guide the younger ones.
“An important part of our job as a hockey player is to inspire younger players or anyone really to take up the sport and it’s a role that we take extremely seriously and the more people that can play our sport the better.
“The sport has given us so much and to be in a position where we can give something back is fantastic.”
Sportsbeat 2016