“I'VE always been an old soul,” says Ioli Mytilineou. “My mum says that I've never been a kid; I skipped that stage.”
This might sound a bit serious, but it's paying dividends now. Ioli came close to a fairy-tale championship debut at the Europeans in 2021 and was top 20 at the worlds last year. Moreover, being wise beyond her years is how Ioli wants to play it.
“Everything is a balance, but I'm trying to live like a 25-year-old with the knowledge of a 35-year-old,” she says. “As they get older people say, ‘I wish I knew that when I was younger.’ I don't want those regrets, so I'm trying to gather as much knowledge as I can and apply it.”
And yet, she retains a childlike exhilaration at the jet-set glamour of the international showjumping circuit.
“I turn up at every show two days before everyone else, sometimes when they are still setting up,” she says. “It's still so exciting, the cities we get to see – I would never have been to these places without this sport.”
Ioli and I are sitting ringside at the Doha GCT, where she will later win a