After years of solid training, 5.00am starts and countless sacrifices, former AIS athlete Sonia Mills will be competing for Australia at her first Olympic Games in Beijing.

‘The news is still sinking in,’ Mills said. ‘But there’s no time to have my head in the clouds because I have to pack my bags ready to go.’

Mills will head to northern New South Wales for a solid training camp, then to Penrith, Sydney, for more of the same before mixing it with the best in Beijing.

The journey to make the games has been a roller coaster ride for Mills and her partner Catriona Sens. Having had a solid result at the Lucerne World Cup both girls went into the Olympic qualification regatta in Poland in June fairly confident. ‘It [Poland] was like no other experience. It was quite a low-key affair as many countries had achieved qualification at the 2007 World Rowing Championships. Australia missed out with a different crew last year so this was Catriona’s and my opportunity to make it happen,’ said Mills.

Fortunately for Mills and Sens, they won their first race of the regatta, securing a spot alongside the Ukraine in the A final. With such a great result there was nothing left for the girls to do except wait and watch as the other countries battled it out for the four remaining spots in the A final.

‘A whole day prior to our final I had adrenaline pumping through my body like never before,’ said Mills. She was charged and ready to go!

The 2000-metre course had a slight head wind, so the girls knew they were going to have to dig deep. Having broken from the pack to take the lead at the 500-metre mark and holding onto it until there was 500-metres to go, Mills’ body started to pay the price. ‘I was hanging on for dear life,’ she remembered.

The Ukrainians managed to get the better of the Australian crew, but there was no way they were going to let anyone else get ahead of them. ‘Despite my body rebelling, we held on for second place and grabbed the final spot for the Olympics’.

A sense of relief hit Mills about 20 minutes after the race finish. The dream of one day representing Australia at the Olympic Games had become a reality. ‘Seven years ago when I picked up my first set of oars I didn’t realise that the journey ahead would lead me to this point. If I’m lucky the end result could be a shiny medal and a place in sporting history!’

Look out for Mills and Sens in their race for gold in Beijing.