Tasha was one of Britain’s stars on the track at the Beijing Olympics, winning a bronze medal in the 400m hurdles. This week, we chatted to her at the launch of the Aviva UKA Academy, a new scheme that aims to get more kids across the UK involved in athletics.

What have you been doing with the kids there today?

We did some exercises outside to give them a little taster of athletics, and to just go out there and run and have fun with it.

Why is this award scheme a good thing?

One of the really good things that caught my eye is the fact that everyone at all levels gets rewarded and there are also levels to progress to. That’s what keeps people involved, wanting to get to that next level and to do a bit better than last time. And for kids in general, one: they want to have fun, and two: they want to know that you appreciate every effort that they are putting in. That’s what the programme creates, that acknowledgement that they’re doing a good job. But it’s just generally getting kids involved. Everyone’s attention is on 2012, but what is there for kids to actually be involved in? Because once 2012 is over, there is still life! We’ve got everyone’s attention now, so how are you going to keep it? I think it’s programmes like this that are gonna survive the 2012 bug, because you don’t want people to forget about sport just because the Olympics is finished.

Do you think keeping records of past performances and tracking your progress helps to keep you focussed on becoming better?

Yeah, absolutely. I still remember when I used to do trampolining and wanted to get the bronze and the silver and the gold.

Were there other disciplines that you preferred to the hurdles at first?

I was a pentathlete originally, so I used to do all five events. I was sent to a coach to fine-tune my hurdling because I was like some kind of windmill coming down the track! But he said if I didn’t quit all the other events, he wouldn’t coach me anymore. I was 14 then so I was all scared and I said: “OK, OK, I’ll quit all the other events.” That I think was a huge mistake, but I didn’t know any better ’cause I was just a kid.

Do you look back on that as a regret?

I wish that I had been able to see how well I could have done, but it’s done now. Kelly Sotherton and I have a pact: I’m going to teach her how to do the 400m hurdles and she’s going to coach me heptathlon, then before we retire we’ll both have a go at each and see where we get. That should be interesting!

You’ve had your injury problems over the last couple of years. How does your body feel now?

Well, it’s seen better days! But the thing that I’ve learned from having injuries in the past is that it’s not a write-off, you just get on with it. If you still wanna be in it, just get on with it and let the chips fall where they may.

Have you found it harder as you’ve got older to get over little niggles?

Yeah, but that’s just the nature of the human body. It just doesn’t spring back like it used to when you were 12!

Do you think that mentally you deal with it a bit better?

I’m definitely wiser. Obviously you have your ups and downs and your frustrations, but life’s always throwing you curveballs. You just have to forget it and get on with it.

Do you think you’ll be able to improve on your bronze medal in 2012?

I would love to, that’s the aim. There’s no point going there to do worse than I did last time, so if I didn’t believe it was a possibility I would not even bother. This sport is too hard to just do it halfway. If you’ve got the talent to do it all the way then you do it all the way. Any athlete does, we always wanna do better the next go around.

How mentally strong do you have to be to train every day and constantly put that effort in?

You’ve gotta be really tough, because especially in events like the 400m hurdles, the 400m, the 800m, they’re very gruelling and the training is equally, if not more, gruelling. So you have to be some kind of animal to wake up in the morning and think: “Hey, I’m gonna go and just batter the hell out of my body, and I’m gonna do it with a smile on my face!” You’ve got to have a different kind of mindset to wake up in the morning and do that to yourself, knowing that you’ve got to do it again the next day.

Do you ever wish you had a cushy office job?

Yeah. We all have our moments where we’re like: “What the hell? Why? Why am I doing this to myself?”

You give a lot of motivational talks in schools. What kind of thing do you say?

The main thing I want to let kids know is to just be the best you. Just be the best you can be, whether it’s in sport or engineering or science. Sometimes someone wants to be the best hairdresser in South London. Well, you be that, and don’t think you’re any less of a person because you don’t get a medal for it. Sometimes people look at sports stars who get medals and money, and they think: “That means they’re a valuable person and my little old job at Tesco or the hairdressing salon isn’t that important and I don’t mean as much.” Well, everyone means something, and so I just want them to know that they are important in their own right. I spoke at a school before and afterwards a girl came up to me and said that I had inspired her to go ahead and pursue her singing career, which she wasn’t gonna up to that point, she was just going to do it as a hobby. Later, she contacted me on Facebook and asked if I wanted to go to one of her shows, ’cause she was actually doing it and singing. She was inspired to go and do it and now she’s doing what she loves. That’s what life is about.

What kind of questions do you usually get asked when you go into schools?

How many times a week do you train? What do you eat? When did you start running? Can I see your medal? Is it heavy? How old are you?

Click here to watch Tasha's bronze medal-winning performance from Beijing.

For more on the Aviva UKA Academy and to register, see www.uka.org.uk/academy.