Mother's pride in her daughter

MUM'S the word . . . Nicola and Gill

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AN "ordinary girl from Oldham" was how Nicola's ecstatic mum Gill described her daughter.

After jetting out to watch her battle her way through the full successful tournament with Team GB over the past couple of weeks, Gill returned home last night, exhausted and understandably almost lost for words.

She told the Chronicle: "What can I say?

"What an amazing two weeks in Rio.

"I went out to support the girls with hope that Nicola and the team would fulfil their dream of Olympic gold and I knew they had the capabilities to succeed.

"However, there were also another 11 teams to get past first.

"They did it in style with eight wins out of eight, dominating play all the way to the final.

"Meeting the Dutch in the final match I knew it was going to be a tough and hard fought game, but I had belief that this was GB's moment.

"I somehow have to come back down to earth and back to normality now I'm home.

"What a fantastic achievement. The memories will always be there and I hope that this will inspire all youngsters to go for their dreams.

"Nicola is just an ordinary girl from Oldham with an extraordinary talent who believed in herself and followed her dream.

"Amazing."