Gillingham's Isla Norman-Bell has always lived and breathed rugby sevens - and is now set to make her Olympic debut at Paris 2024.

Born in Kent but raised in New Zealand, Norman-Bell was first called up to the England sevens squad in December 2021 and has since been a stalwart of the England and Great Britain team.

The 24-year-old has now been named as part of Team GB's 12-strong sevens squad for this summer's Olympics, one of eight debutants.

And Norman-Bell is thrilled that her rugby dreams have finally come true after the sport has been such a key part of her life.

"This has been a dream for as long as I can remember, so I'm so excited to get going now," she said. "Rugby has been part of my life since I was really young. Even when I was five, I was there watching.

"I grew up in New Zealand and obviously rugby is huge there which is a big part of why I've played for so long. I started playing aged eight and then when I was about 10 found sevens and have been doing that up until now."

Rugby sevens will see just its third Olympic outing at Paris after making its debut at Rio 2016.

Team GB have been part of all three showings, with the women's team set to begin their campaign in Paris on July 28.

The pools are yet to be determined, with preliminaries to be played over the first two days before the competition heats up to a golden battle on July 30.

But Norman-Bell, who saw international success as a teenager as part of the World Schools Sevens Tournament, admitted that she was dreaming of international sevens success long before her chance to become an Olympian was possible.

"Throughout my journey I've been lucky to complete at a lot of different tournaments across all ages," she said.

"Before the Olympics even had sevens I was competing in international competitions with my school. So when the announcement happened I knew that's where I wanted to go. My journey has just been rugby whenever and wherever."

Team GB finished a in heartbreaking fourth place at Tokyo 2020, losing out 21-12 to Fiji in the bronze-medal match, and will look to remedy their performance in Paris.

Head coach Ciaran Beattie said: "We want to be competitive in Paris and approach each match as one that can be won, with the ultimate aim of medalling, at the same time being respectful of the huge quality of other teams."

The GB men’s rugby sevens team failed to join the women in Paris after they were beaten 14-5 by South Africa in last weekend’s repechage tournament in Monaco.

Aldi are proud Official Partners of Team GB & ParalympicsGB, supporting all athletes through to Paris 2024