Dive star Yasmin Harper hopes to celebrate her birthday with a Paris Olympic splash.
The Sheffield ace will turn 24 on Sunday after her women’s 3m synchro event alongside Scarlett Mew Jensen this afternoon.
The inseparable duo bagged back-to-back medals at the last two World Championships and are one of the red-hot favourites to grab Team GB’s first gong of the Games.
Harper knows that would trigger a celebration to savour and believes her and Mew Jensen, 22, have what it takes to get the nation off to a flier at La Defense Arena.
Harper, who won global silver with Mew Jensen in Fukuoka last year, said: “If we end up with a medal, that would be the best birthday present I could ever ask for.
If we end up with a medal, that would be the best birthday present I could ever ask for.
“The World Championships in Fukuoka was great and I feel like we seized the opportunity.
“We went into that World Championships complete rookies, had not been training together long at all and we went in there and won a silver medal.
“I think it’s going to be overwhelming but I’m so pleased to get this chance to go and be part of such an amazing team.”
The dynamic duo combined for that surprise silver in China before following it up with bronze at this year’s event in Doha.
Those dazzling displays marked them out as serious contenders in Paris and as the Games get underway, there’s a strong chance they could get Team GB off the mark.
Harper forms part of a star-studded British diving team as Tom Daley returns for his fifth Games and fellow Yorkshire star Jack Laugher, who grabbed 3m synchro gold alongside Chris Mears in Rio, also descend on the French capital.
She will join forces with the younger Mew Jensen in the Parisian pool, who added to her Doha bronze with team gold at the World Championships back in February.
Mew Jensen said: “If we can go out there for the event and show who we are, then that’s what we will be proud of.
“It’s a great opportunity for both of us – we didn’t think that we’d get it so it’s finally here and we can say it now which is crazy.
“It does feel a bit like it’s fate that it’s happened - we’ve formed and excelled together.”
Watch every moment of Olympic Games Paris 2024 live only on discovery+, the streaming home of the Olympics
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