 Jamie Oliver may have revolutionised the nation's school dinners, but given half the chance, you sense Ashia Hansen could do a similar job when it comes to sport and exercise. No mean cook herself, the 35-year-old triple jumper has plenty to say on the subjects of kids' exercise and diet - as a world class athlete with over 10 years' experience, two subjects she knows plenty about. "I know a lot of parents don't necessarily have the time, but it only takes 20 minutes to cook a decent meal," says the Birchfield Harrier, who competes on the home turf of the NIA next month in the European Indoor Athletics Championships. "I can do a meal in 20 minutes and it's quite healthy, it's not tasteless as most people would think it would be, and it's also quite cheap; when you buy ready made meals and takeaways it actually costs a lot more than actually buying the food and preparing from scratch. "I know it sounds quite boring but I tend to prepare all my meals from scratch because that's the way I was brought up, I don't know any other way." On the subject of getting kids out of the house and doing sport, she adds: "It doesn't take much to take a child down on Saturday morning, leave them at the track, let them do their fun and games, do some shopping - they don't necessarily have to be there, there are people who are qualified to look after them." Ashia is one of those people that, were she not so amiable and down to earth, you'd quite easily hate for being so good at everything she does. First and foremost Britain's greatest ever female triple jumper (She has won gold at Commonwealth Games, European Championships, World Indoors, European Indoor Championships and set over 20 British records in her 13-year senior career), Ashia is also a qualified beauty therapist and has modelled (most recently on the catwalk at last autumn's Style Birmingham event). Right now, however, thoughts of a career change or retirement are a million miles away, as she focuses on the upcoming European Indoor Championships - the latest chapter in her comeback from the horrific knee injury she suffered during the 2004 European Cup. "I'm aiming for top six, I think it's a realistic goal," says Ashia. "We don't make decisions like that lightly, without having some sort of basis or evidence; I think it's a tough goal which is good, it needs to be tough; it's based on training and the athlete that I was before - I don't give up easily and I love a challenge. "[The knee's] fine now," she adds. "I still get the odd sort of niggle with it but that comes with the territory, because it was such an horrendous injury - but it doesn't stop me from sprinting and jumping - so long as I can do those and the weight work then I'm okay. "Injuries are the name of the game - you don't expect an injury to happen to yourself and when it does you deal with it, that is what being an athlete is about, you have to deal with any obstacle that comes your way, and I think I dealt with it fairly well considering; I had a lot of negative feedback from people saying it was unlikely I'd ever come back and jump again... so to come through that I think it's a really good thing." As one of the Great Britain team's best known and loved athletes, it's a boost for all concerned to see Ashia back at the NIA next month. With knee and achilles injuries threatening to put a premature end to her career, Hansen has no doubts as to what has helped her overcome adversity: "Patience," she says. "You know your body better than any doctor or nurse, it's kind of like a doctor can tell you what they know physically, but they don't know you as a person, what makes you tick, and what makes me tick is the challenge of coming back and doing everything to get back because if I didn't give myself that chance, in a few years' time down the line I could be sitting here thinking 'what if I had just given it that chance' and I think I've done pretty well out of it." Ashia adds: "A lot of people who've said what they've said [about my injuries] haven't had to deal with an operation like that, they haven't seen somebody really come back from an operation, but there are a lot of athletes that have had this kind of injury who've managed to come back and win championships or at least get a medal... if they can do it, why can't I?" While Ashia has countless medals and records to her name, injuries have meant an Olympic medal still eludes, something she's determined to put right in 2008: "The Olympics... yeah, that is my main goal," she smiles ruefully. "The Europeans and the Worlds are very, very important, I always use them as a stepping stone for the Olympics - if you can win a medal at the Worlds you should be able to win a medal at the Olympics. "I'll go on as long as the incentive carries me," she vows. "I love doing what I do; obviously it's more of a mental thing - I think physically you can carry on a lot longer now because we've got very good medical facilities, the diet, but I'd like to carry on until Beijing then decide." | 
