HEATHER BANSLEY

Sport: Beach volleyball Competes: Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday. (Finals are Aug. 17.) Born: Sept. 13, 1987 Height, Weight: 5’6, 143 lbs. Hometown: Waterdown, Ont. Birthplace: London, Ont.

Q This will be your first Olympics, after just missing out on London. How are you feeling about the Olympics and competing on Copacabana Beach?

A I missed out in 2012 after helping Canada earn a berth for London. My teammate and I had to play in a country quota event in Toronto, and it was one match, and we lost and I had to watch the other team compete in London. ... Having to go through that whole process, I wasn’t going to leave it to chance again in 2016. Also, watching the other women’s team and having an idea where I could have been at that level in 2012, I realized that they didn’t make it out of pool play. My teammate and I maybe wouldn’t have done much better and it was a little uninspiring for me to see that. I wanted to represent Canada better than that, and I wanted not just to make it to the Olympics but to go to the Olympics and be on the podium there.

Q In your bio, you also said you’re inspired by Montreal Canadiens goalie Carey Price.

A I started following him and really became a fan during the 2014 Olympics. I wasn’t really a hockey fan before then, other than being a Team Canada fan at the Olympics, but at the time my boyfriend was doing an Olympic hockey pool with all of his friends and he asked me if I wanted to join sort of as a pity ask. And my roommate at the time, she loved hockey and she was totally into (it). She ... helped me pick all the players and Carey Price was my goaltender. I ended up winning the hockey pool (laughs). ... I was just inspired by (Price’s) composure on the ice in big moments during the Olympics and in the NHL. I just kind of continued on as a fan.

Q I read that you have a lucky bathing suit each year. True?

A Yeah, kind of (laughs). We play in bathing suits, and we have ones that we do really well in and others that maybe we lost an important match in, so we tend to try not to use those ones.