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| Human Interest | |
|---|---|
Further Personal Information | |
| Residence | Milton Keynes, ENG |
Sport Specific Information | |
| Club / Team | Glasgow & North Strathclyde: Glasgow, SCO |
Further Personal Information | |
| Higher education | Politics, Social and Behavioral Science - Open University: Scotland |
General Interest | |
| Hobbies | Her dog Samson and playing golf. (badmintonengland.co.uk, 10 Sep 2010; Twitter, 08 May 2012) |
| Memorable sporting achievement | Winning the mixed doubles silver with Chris Adcock at the 2011 World Championships, representing Scotland at the 2010 Commonwealth Games and winning the Scottish International mixed doubles title in 2007 and 2010. (badmintonscotland.org.uk, 01 May 2012) |
| Famous relatives | Her father Ian is the chairman of Glasgow-based Scottish football club Celtic. (scotsman.com, 03 Jun 2011) |
| Most influential person in career | Her parents and former coach and mentor David Barr. (badmintonengland.co.uk, 10 Sep 2010) |
| Hero / Idol | United States' tennis player Andre Agassi and former Great Britain Olympic badminton players Gail Emms and Donna Kellogg. (badmintonscotland.org.uk, 01 May 2012; winningstudents-scotland.ac.uk, 08 May 2012) |
| Ambitions | To win medals at the 2012 London Olympic Games and the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. (badmintonscotland.org.uk, 01 May 2012) |
| Awards and honours | In 2011 she won the Lonsdale Trophy as Scottish Sportsperson of the Year. She was the first badminton player to claim the award. (theglaswegian.co.uk, 03 Nov 2011) The British Olympic Association [BOA] named her and parter Chris Adcock as badminton's Olympic Athletes of the Year for 2011. (sportscotland.org.uk, 08 May 2012) |
Sport Specific Information | |
| Name of coach | Peter Jeffrey, Graham Hurrell, Andy Alford |
| Handedness | Right |
| Training Regime | She trains Monday to Friday, combining two-hour badminton sessions, on-court skills work and weights sessions. She also does cardiovascular training at the weekends. |
| When and where did you begin this sport? | She started playing badminton at age nine in the back garden of the family home before joining the Cairns Church Badminton Club in Glasgow. |
International Debut | |
| Year | 2005 |
Further Personal Information | |
| Occupation | Athlete, Student |
General Interest | |
| Other information | TWIT FIT In February 2012 she was involved in a war of tweets with England international badminton players Gabby White and Jenny Wallwork after making comments on Twitter about the England National Championships. "Just watched the English Nationals... why can English people not serve...?!" she tweeted. White, girlfriend of Bankier's mixed doubles partner Chris Adcock, responded by describing her as sour. Bankier defended herself by claiming the comment was intended to be lighthearted, not offensive, but Wallwork responded and the pair traded several comments before Wallwork suggested she kept her "banter" to herself or "jog on back to Scotland". (guardian.co.uk, 10 Feb 2012) STRONG CRITIC She was a strong critic of the Badminton World Federation's [BWF] intended rule changes that would have forced female players to wear skirts or dresses. "I understand what they are trying to do," she said. "Make it more appealing to spectators and the media, but I don't think women wearing skirts is going to make it more aesthetically pleasing. I don't think women in sport should be told what they can and can't wear when men aren't told the same thing." (bbc.co.uk, 05 May 2011; express.co.uk, 26 Jan 2012) OTHER ACTIVITIES She has a diploma in Swedish massage. (badmintonengland.co.uk, 08 May 2012) LAW STUDIES At the start of 2007 she gave up a law degree at Glasgow University to concentrate on her badminton career. "About six months after I started [the degree], the GB programme was set up, so I felt like I had to take that opportunity," she said. "I really didn't feel I was doing justice to either my degree studies or my badminton. I had to make the choice." (inthewinningzone.com, 30 Apr 2008; bbc.co.uk, 17 Aug 2011) |