Chatham's Nathan Hales shares what he would be doing if not an Olympic champion.
Medway's very own Nathan Hales sat down with Abby Hook after his record breaking success in Paris.
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00:00Nathan, thank you so much for joining us. I can't imagine what the past 24 hours has been like for you.
00:06First of all, congratulations. How do you feel? Have you had much time to celebrate or a bit of downtime?
00:14It's just been an absolute whirlwind. It's been absolutely crazy.
00:18I've not managed to catch up with myself yet, I don't think.
00:22But yeah, I haven't had a chance to celebrate yet, but managed to have some food with family last night.
00:28So that was great. But looking forward to catching up and celebrating with them over the coming days.
00:34Let's talk about that moment. You set an Olympic record, 48 out of 50. Did you expect that? How does that feel?
00:44Yeah, again, it's another incredible feeling. It wasn't something I necessarily expected at the time.
00:50Normally, a high-pressure event like an Olympic Games final, the scores are slightly lower than what we'd get at a World Cup event
00:58or one of our World Champs, European Champs events. But yeah, to set an Olympic record on top of winning Olympic gold
01:06was just an absolute dream come true.
01:09And what about your experience of shooting and learning your craft and your sport here in Kent?
01:14Are there any clubs, schools, anybody that sticks out that I suppose we can give a shout out to here on KMTV?
01:20Anybody that's made what's happened, your achievement, possible?
01:26Yeah, there's lots of grounds in the area that I started on as a youngster, like JJ's in Dartford.
01:33There's Dartford Gun Club that I shot at and West Kent, all in Kent that I'd shot at.
01:40Yeah, used to shoot some practice out with family just for fun at all of those grounds growing up.
01:47And of course, we spoke about your two children watching you, but your partner, of course, in the same line of work as you.
01:55Do you think you've got two youngsters that can follow in your footsteps here? Is it a family affair, this sport?
02:04We'll see. I'd like to think so. Hattie's only 16 months old, so we've got a long way to go until she's able to have her first shots.
02:13But Hudson's six. He's not too keen at the moment, but it may come with a bit of age.
02:21He may decide he wants to give it a go and follow in our footsteps and maybe give it a try.
02:28The opportunity's always there for him. He's not going to be pushed, so we'll see what he wants to take up.
02:35Amazing. It's not quite a sport you can start at 16 months old, so we don't blame you for that one.
02:42What's it like to have the support of your partner, knowing exactly the pressure that you're under going through these competitions?
02:49It makes it a lot easier. We've had conversations on the build-up to the Paris Games.
02:56Charlotte went to Beijing and London, so she's had those experiences. She was able to share those with me, which was a great help.
03:04Those insights that I may not have had and may have caught me off guard or surprised me when I got there.
03:11I was prepared for those things, so it was a great help.
03:15European champion, world champion, now Olympic champion and record holder. What's next?
03:24What's next? We'll have a little bit of a break from here and then we'll gear up towards the World Cup events next year.
03:33World champs, European champs. After next year's out of the way, it'll be into planning for LA cycle.
03:41Fingers crossed we can win quite a spot for Team GB and hopefully get on the team for LA as well.
03:50We speak to a lot of young athletes, a lot of young people in sport on our programme on Kentonite as well as Invictus Sport.
03:58What would your message be to a youngster that's watching you, inspired by you, that's thinking,
04:03I'm from Medway too, I'm from Kent, how can I get myself to the Olympics and do what you've done?
04:11I think if that's your goal, don't ever give up on it, keep going. Try and explore the pathways of the various sports.
04:20I think most sports have a pathway programme which is an introduction to the sport, into the UK sport programme,
04:28lottery funding programmes and that's a great stepping stone on the path to get into where your dreams take you.
04:37Nathan, I'm really interested to know, if you weren't shooting at the Olympics, what do you think you'd be doing back here in the county?
04:45Where would your life have taken you?
04:48I'm not entirely sure. My dad was a car dealer so maybe would have followed his footsteps a bit more.
04:57We all shoot as a family, hobby-wise, so if it wasn't work-related, I'd be shooting for a hobby.
05:08Amazing. The whole county congratulates you. We are amazed in awe and go and celebrate it finally.
05:16Thank you, I will do.