SHE has already entered the record books by becoming only the second English woman to lift the Women’s Rugby World Cup trophy, now Katy McLean wants to create history by becoming the first woman of any nationality to skipper her side to an Olympic gold medal.

McLean, who was born in South Shields and plays her club rugby for Darlington Mowden Park Sharks, achieved a lifetime ambition in August when she was the captain of the England side that beat Canada in the World Cup final in Paris.

Ordinarily, that would comfortably represent the pinnacle of a rugby player’s life, but the introduction of rugby sevens to the programme for the 2016 Olympics in Rio means McLean has already been able to reset her targets in the hope of achieving an equally notable feat.

The 28-year-old fly-half has been selected as part of England’s 20-strong professional training squad which is expected to form the core of the British side for Rio if qualification is achieved, and has already begun the process of drawing a line under this summer’s World Cup achievements in order to refocus on the pursuit of Olympic glory.

“Over the last few years, my only focus has been winning the World Cup with England,” said McLean, who is part of a three-person shortlist for the senior sporting excellence award at this month’s Northern Echo Local Heroes Awards. “That was the only thing any of us were thinking about because we’d come so close in the past and it meant so much to finally get over the line.

“That was always going to be the ultimate, but all of a sudden, that’s over now and the thinking has suddenly changed to, ‘Hang on a minute, I might actually get a chance to compete at the Olympics’.

“I remember when it was announced that sevens was going to be part of the Olympics, and initially it was mixed feelings for me really. I was delighted for the girls who were going to be taking part and for the development of women’s rugby, but I was also secretly a bit gutted because, if I’m honest, I probably thought I’d be too old to compete myself.

“I’m 28 now, but I still feel like I’ve got plenty to offer so when I was announced as one of the players who was getting a full-time contract with the sevens squad, I was absolutely delighted. I’m a full-time athlete, with a chance of going to the Olympics. I still can’t really believe it if I’m honest.”

The switch to professionalism has forced McLean to give up her previous job as a teacher at Bexhill Academy in Sunderland to relocate to Guildford, close to the English women’s team’s permanent training base.

The North-Easterner was part of the England side that disappointed as they finished sixth at the 2013 Sevens World Cup in Moscow, but claims the move to full-time funding has already had a massive impact on the squad’s ability to train and prepare for matches.

Next year’s main focus will be the World Sevens Series, with the top four sides at the end of the tour gaining automatic qualification for the Olympics. Failing that, Team GB could still secure a spot if any of the home nations make the final of the European Sevens Championship, although at this stage, it remains unclear how the make-up of the British team is going to evolve.

“At the moment, we’re still training as England under the control of the RFU,” said McLean. “The last I heard, the plan was for England to try to get a qualifying place, and then it would be decided whether it’s England that competes as Britain or whether girls from the other home nations would have a chance of making the team.

“We’ll see. The most important thing is that we do as well as we can in the World Sevens next year and the switch to full-time training should definitely help that. In the past, I was getting up before six to do a gym session, then doing a full day in school, then doing another gym session before getting home just before nine. Now, I actually get time to eat and recover.”

The selection of the British squad is not the only unknown ahead of Rio, as new rugby-playing nations are already beginning to emerge from the woodwork.

“It’s going to be fascinating at the Olympics,” said McLean. “Obviously, the traditional nations of New Zealand, Australia and hopefully ourselves will be strong, but you’re also seeing countries like Brazil, Russia and China, who haven’t really played much rugby before but who pump a lot of money into Olympic sports, starting to develop.”

In the women’s game at least, sevens will increasingly begin to dominate the international calendar over the next 12 months, but that is not to say that McLean is abandoning the 15-a-side game, especially with a Women’s Six Nations game scheduled for The Northern Echo Arena in Darlington next March.

“As world champions, I think it’s really important we put out the strongest side possible in the Six Nations, and that’s what we’re going to do,” she said. “The players in the sevens squad are still going to be available.

“We play our final game of the tournament at Twickenham, and that’s a massive thing for the women’s game, and it’s also going to be fantastic to be able to run out in Darlington wearing an England shirt. That’ll be a massive night for us as players, and hopefully a massive night for the North-East.”