GEORGINA Geikie may have lost the support of British Shooting in the build up to London 2012 – but the Okehampton markswoman admits she is still being backed to realise her Olympic dream from Australia to America.

Geikie was dropped as one of six athletes to receive funding in November despite helping herself to bronze in the 25m pistol pairs at the Commonwealth Games a month beforehand.

The 26-year-old couldn't have asked for a better response winning the British air pistol title last month however it came too late for her to shoot at the upcoming first two World Cups of 2011 in Australia and Korea.

Geikie will now set about ensuring she can shoot at the American and German legs in May and June respectively and revealed will be spurred on to do so all over the globe. With the London 2012 Olympics in sight – the 25m pistol pairs kick-off on August 1 at the Royal Artillery Barracks – Geikie is desperate to be part of the celebration in the capital.

'After having my funding from British Shooting taken away it is extra nice to go out there and prove myself and prove I can still shoot and shoot well,' she said. 'When times get hard that is when you find out a lot about people and their characters and I think I am proving my own to be quite strong right now. When all the funding got cut it was hard but you can't just sit there and feel sorry for yourself and my friends and family have been amazing in supporting me.

'My brother lives in Australia and he has everyone down there supporting me and it's the same for Florida with my uncle so I have a lot of people I don't want to let down. All this will make me tougher and I will come out the other side better for it all I am sure as I look towards the London 2012 Olympics.

As the host nation Britain have a guaranteed place in nine of the 15 shooting events secured for 2012 with the 25m pistol the most relevant of those to Geikie, having won Commonwealth pairs bronze. Britain failed to qualify a place in any women's pistol events at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 and with that in mind Geikie insists she will take nothing for granted over the next 500 days.

'Everything is really starting to come together again and I can't begin to explain how good that feels," she added. "Each competition I do I am getting better and better and seem to be shooting seasons bests nearly every time which is a great sign.

'But I know that I still have things to work on and I am not done by any stretch of the imagination. I know that I still have more to show and I'm excited about what that is after a great start to the year. 'It is just so nice to be back enjoying everything again and I feel as though I have a lot of pressure off my shoulders which is really nice feeling."

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