Pam has always been my glamorous big sister - 13 years older than I. She played on the women's circuit for nine years and came home to tell me stories of France, Japan.

I was planning to remain an amateur for a while.

From one match to the next, I kept on winning.

Venus hasn't been to the semis for a couple of years in a Grand Slam - she's been coming back from injury.

I'm honoured and delighted to be named the 'Irish Times'/Irish Sports Council Sportswoman of the Year 2014. This has been an amazing year for me and for Irish women in sport, and I would like to congratulate all the finalists in their respective fields who have excelled at major sporting events.

If you own a football club, you have to be really involved and committed.

You can never stop learning in football and I'm always trying to take little things on board that other players do.

To be the first British athlete to win a gold is amazing, but to win it in the U.K. is something else. Also, having my family here with me has made it extra special, and I know all my friends back home have been cheering me on and putting posters in their windows. I want to thank them all.