Heart Follows Essex Olympic Hopeful

31 July 2011, 09:18 | Updated: 31 July 2011, 09:20

Hornchurch-born Lucy Boulton is a beach volleyball player for Team GB.

The 25-year-old's blogging her training and progress in the run up to the 2012 Games exclusively for Heart.

Sunday 21st July

It's been quite a turbulent couple of months since I last blogged. There's been ups - qualifying for the semi final of the Continental Cup in the Ukraine, there's been downs - crashing out of the World Championships in the pool phase in Rome and some fantastic experiences in between. In the last 2 months alone I've climbed the Great Wall of China, visited the Vatican and experienced Moscow's Red Square.

Despite some tough draws which have resulted in a couple of early exits out of countries as of late, the Olympic dream is still very much alive. Denise and I are hugely excited for the Visa FIVB Beach Volleyball International as part of the London Prepares series. The sand has already been delivered to Horse Guards Parade and I can't wait to play at the Olympic venue, even if it is on a slightly smaller scale! Tickets have been selling fast and I'm getting fired up to play in front of a home crowd. So come on down between the 9-14th August and watch us in action.

Then it's just 2 more World Tour events before a month-long break and after being on the road for the past few months I've got to admit that I'm looking forward to lying in my own bed and watching Eastenders!!

Tuesday April 27th 2011

"Pre-season is finally complete and it's time for us to put all of our hard work into practice. After completing our own 'world tour' of training camps in Australia, New Zealand, Tenerife, L.A. and Rio over the past six months the Swatch FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour kicked off in Brasilia last week and Olympic qualification officially began.

My playing partner, Denise Johns, and I made it through the event qualifier and into the main draw. Sadly we lost our first two games, to a pair of Austrian sisters in the opening round and a Brazilian pairing in the next. It meant we placed 25th overall in the tournament but we still picked up some valuable points and prize money.

We hung around for a couple more days to train then on Friday we began our epic journey across the globe. It took 4 flights, 45 hours and almost 13,500 miles but we made it from Brasilia to Sanya, China for our next event. Guess they don't call it the world tour for nothing!

Qualification starts here today and we're looking to improve on our result from last week and take some names while we're at it. Bring it on!"

You can follow their progress by clicking here

Lucy Boulton talks to Heart ahead of the 2012 Olympics