CHARLOTTE Dobson has set her sights on the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo with new partner Saskia Tidey after her adventure in Rio last year.

Dobson took part in the 49er-FX event in Rio 2016 where she finished eighth alongside former partner Sophie Ainsworth, a high which was initially difficult to come down from.

She said: “It’s strange when you’ve got one goal that you focus on constantly for four years. After you’ve finished it’s a strange feeling of “why do I get out of bed in the morning?” which lasted for a week!

“But it doesn’t take long before the review processes start to happen. In the four months after the Olympics it’s all about reviewing performance, reviewing the cycle and reviewing my own performance as an athlete to find where I need to improve, which is quite a brutal process. It takes a long time if you want to do it properly.

“After that I decided I needed different qualities in the team if I was to be successful in Tokyo. It’s a very different venue to Rio and requires very different skillsets and super strengths. That resulted in pairing up with Saskia.

Tidey, who previously sailed for Ireland has joined the GB sailing team through her British passport, and Dobson explained the challenges of forming a partnership.

She said: “For now we're just learning how to sail together, which is really exciting and a nice part of the learning curve because the improvements can be made quite fast.

“Being in a sailing partnership is like being in a marriage you didn’t choose! You spend every day together and see each other at your best and your worst.

“It was really sad to make that change but Sophie and I and still good friends and proud of the fact we mutually decided to find other partners.”

Dobson and Tidey competed in last week’s Miami World Cup event, which the Portland-based sailor insists was excellent for developing the partnership.

“Because of the way the rankings work it’s really important to be involved so you can do the events which you want to do later on in the year.

“For us, it was a great opportunity to just go out and race. It’s good to see where we are as a team and we saw some real strengths as a team, which is really promising.”

With 2017 in its infancy, Dobson is keen to take the time to forge her and Tidey’s partnership, in the hope that it will be beneficial in the long-run.

“The first six months of this year is for fact-finding. It’s to find out our potential super-strengths that we can nurture, and what our weaknesses are that we need to rectify.

“It’s also about learning how we’ll operate as a team as we build our strategy for Tokyo. It takes time to build the best plan so isn’t something to be rushed."

As part of the preparation, it looks to be another busy year for Dobson and Tidey.