Lisa Gibson will be as proud to represent Great Britain at Olympics despite being raised in the United States.
Gibson was born in Chichester but learned to play water polo abroad after her family moved to the States for her father Preston's job.
The family kept their home in Selsey for years and regularly returned to see relations in the Littlehampton area so Gibson still has strong ties with Sussex.
There has been criticism of 'Plastic Brits' in the national press in the lead up to the Games, with Tiffany Ofili-Porter the most high profile after switching her allegiance from the United States to Team GB despite being born and raised in Ypsilanti, Michigan.
Hurdler Ofili-Porter qualifies as she has a British mother and British passport but there was never any question of Gibson competing for the United States despite moving there as a four-year-old.
She said: “My parents went out there to work and you have to have a Green Card (work permit) for a minimum of five years so I could not have played for the States.
“Besides, I like being British and playing for Great Britain.”
Gibson also regards herself as from this part of the world, even though she has been based in Manchester since making her home back over here to pursue her water polo career.
She admits to a liking for Premier League champions Manchester City but added: “I still consider myself a Southerner.
“Manchester City is my team but that's more to do with the fact I really like Joe Hart.
“I've never met him but I'd really like to.”
The women's event has only been held at the last three Games and Team GB's women will be making their Olympic debut.
Gibson, who went to schooled in Portland, Oregon, top scored for Great Britain with six goals at the VISA International test event in London in May and her form could be crucial to the home nation having a successful Games.
She believes the tournament is wide open and Great Britain are close to matching more established nations after a series of narrow defeats in the build-up.
Gibson said: “I can't say who will win this competition because I think it is anyone's game. It is so close at the moment.
“We have played Russia, Greece and Holland in the world league.
“Greece are the world champions and Holland are the previous Olympic champions and we lost to them by one.
“Russia are an amazing team and we lost to them by one and we also lost to the United States by one.
“It's coming up to the Olympics and we are doing really well and I believe it could be any team's tournament.
“We are training hard and we will have lots of training matches in Hungary beforehand and I think we can push it over the edge and we shall do well.”
The women's team will take on Italy, Russia and Australia, the bronze medallists from Beijing in the preliminary group.
Boxout GIBSON wants to become a doctor when she retires from water polo. She is studying biomedical sciences at Manchester University.
FACTFILE
- Date of birth: August 12, 1989
- Born: Chichester, West Sussex.
- Team/Club: City of Manchester.
- Position: Centre forward.
- Coach: Szilveszter Fekete.
- Olympic history: Debut.
Schedule
- Monday July 30: Prelim Group B (18.20): Great Britain v Russia.
- Wednesday August 1 Prelim Group B (19.40): Great Britain v Australia.
- Friday August 3 Prelim Group B (18.20): Great Britain v Italy.
- Sunday August 5: Women's quarter-finals.
- Tuesday August 7: Women's classification semi-finals (5th to 8th) and semi-finals.
- Thursday August 9: Women's final round classifications (7-8th and 5th-6th); bronze medal match, gold medal match and women's victory ceremony.