Robyn Nicholls, Rebecca Kershaw, Fiona McCann and Angela Winstanley-Smith make up almost a third of what will be the first women's team to represent Britain at an Olympic Games.

The women's event only came into the Games in Sydney in 2000, and London will be the first time that Team GB have taken part.

Despite this relative inexperience on the biggest stage, hopes for a medal are high, after the team posted some impressive wins in the run-up to the competition.

25 year-old Fiona says: "We're all over the moon. It's fantastic to know that we got in because now we can just concentrate on performing to the best of our abilities at the Games. We can't wait to represent our country with pride."

She and the rest of the quartet have trained together at Manchester Aquatics Centre - the Team GB base, which is partly funded by the city's universities - since 2009.

The Marketing graduate is full of praise for the set-up in the city, and for the flexibility and support shown by the University.

"We all moved to Manchester because British Water Polo based their national performance centre in the city, allowing the squad to train together full-time," she explains.

"I have been at the high performance centre since 2004, Beckie and Robyn moved here in 2008 and Angie came the following year. MMU was the best choice for the courses we wanted to study which would fit into our training schedule."

26 year-old Angela graduated along with Fiona in 2011, while Robyn, 22, and 21 year-old Rebecca are both current students, studying Economics and French respectively.

By Carly Baldwin