As she stands amid the emotion and drama of tomorrow night’s Olympic Opening Ceremony, Saskia Clark may spare a thought for one former British athlete who inspired her to get where she is.

The 32-year-old from West Mersea is one of just four Team GB sailors to be participating in the historic event inside the Olympic Stadium at Stratford and will parade with the hundreds of sporting stars in front of an anticipated audience of billions.

It is a huge honour for Clark to be able to take part as most of the sailing crews will be confined to Weymouth due to their training and racing schedules.

But that’s not the case for the two 470 Class crews of Clark and Hannah Mills and Luke Patience and Stuart Bithell as their racing doesn’t begin until late on in the first week of Olympic competition.

The men’s 470 racing gets under way on Thursday, August, 2, while the women don’t set sail until the following afternoon.

Having a little while longer to prepare may give Clark a chance to reflect on the path that got her to the pinnacle of her sport and she is in no doubt about the Olympic inspiration that fired up her competitive spirit as a young sailor in Mersea.

She said: “I think Sally Gunnell winning the 400 metre hurdles back in Barcelona in 1992 is the thing that stands out for me more than anything.

“I was 12 at the time and was just thinking that I may be quite good at sailing. There were sailors competing in Barcelona who had coached me and who I knew so I was excited to see them competing.

“But sailing wasn’t well televised back then and for a young girl who was quite sporty, Sally’s achievement was the thing that stuck with me most of all.”

Clark does have her own Olympic experience to draw on as well, though.

Four years ago, she was getting ready to compete on the waters of Qingdao as the world watched on at the Beijing Games.

Sailing with Christina Bassadone in the women’s 470 Class, the British duo were tipped for medal success, but fell short of their goals as they ended in sixth spot.

It was a disappointment at the time, but Clark explained that those experiences have proved crucial to her’s and Mills’ preparations for the London Games, including their choice of coach – two-time Olympic silver medallist Joe Glanfield.

Clark added: “The things I learned from China have proved invaluable.

“That was one of the reasons why we decided to work with Joe Glanfield as our coach.

“He is a double Olympic silver medallist in the 470 and I think his approach and psychology is a big thing.

“There was loads that I learned from China and the years since and adding Joe’s experience to that has been invaluable.”