Why can't funding be fairer for athletes like me?

I've been fencing since the age of 11; I'm currently ranked third in Great Britain at women's foil and I'm a member of the GB fencing team.

My aim is to qualify for the London 2012 Olympics, now fewer than 1,000 days away. I know that I have to make the sacrifices to get there.

Still, I wish we could make funding just a bit fairer for athletes like me.

For some years now, the official funding body UK Sport has had a so-called "no compromise" approach, targeting funding only at athletes deemed capable of winning medals.

So funding is finite, tightly controlled and largely targeted at the men's foilists who are Britain's main potential medal hopefuls in 2012.

So it's down to me to raise my own funds. I started my first year of full-time training a year ago, knowing that my limited personal resources would not cover it.

Last October I was in financial limbo, faced with the possibility of having to give up my sport. I very nearly did but with moral support from both my coaches and British Fencing, I decided to give it a go.

Needless to say, if you are not a "big name" athlete, finding private sponsorship is not an easy task.

I put together a sponsorship pack and dedicated almost half of every day to networking and meeting potential sponsors.

Many companies were sympathetic but reluctant to invest in individuals. And most companies understand rowing, cycling, swimming and athletics — but fencing? Isn't that an elitist, complicated sport? How would our customers relate to it?

Fortunately I managed to secure funding on a Young Excellence Scheme set up by Legal & General — a charitable commitment to the continuing development of talented young people — as well as £10,000 a year until 2012 from two private sponsors.

I also receive a discount from my kit sponsors, Leon Paul, and continue to be funded as far as possible by British Fencing for such things as flights and hotels, which I appreciate.

The time I devoted to finding sponsorship ate into my training time — but I knew that if it all came together, it would be worth it in the end. And now I fence with a controlled fury, to prove people wrong.

It is more than 50 years since Great Britain last hosted the Olympic Games, and it may be another 50 before we get the chance again.

There is much talk about creating a 2012 legacy for grassroots sport. Surely 2012 is a chance for the nation to showcase its sporting talent as fully as possible, to enable all sports to grow in the future?

The danger of a "no compromise" approach to funding is that it's too focused on the medals table. Following the wonderful performances of our athletes in Beijing, what if we do not match that medal tally in London?

What then? Would "no compromise" funding become "no funding", with the potential decline of many sports like mine?

Meantime, we athletes will just keep on pushing to be the best. Funding or no funding, I know that achieving world-class results is down to me.

And I'm going to do everything possible to win a place on the podium in 2012.