It's a common complaint in the world of amateur sport: `I could be so much better if only I had someone who believed in me.'

Certainly, Olympic sailor Sara Lane Wright believes that phrase is well suited to her.

Bermuda's 2001 Female Athlete of the Year, honoured at the Government Sports Awards on Saturday night, said the only thing preventing her from making a real name for herself on the world stage was a lack of the commodity that we could all do with a bit more of - cold, hard cash.

"I haven't reached my peak yet," said Lane Wright, whose best achievement last year was a bronze at the Laser World Championships in Vilanova, Spain. "My only limitations lay in the hands of my sponsors.

"I'm not setting any goals or priorities. If the money comes in and I have the support then great."

Certainly, Government has done its bit to help Lane Wright along.

"I recently received A Class Elite Status and that makes me one of only three in Bermuda to have that, the others being Peter Bromby and Brian Wellman," she said.

"I am given so much money in a year but in that year you obviously need a lot more. So, my limitations lie in (my sponsors') hands and not my own."

Lane Wright thought she was an attractive proposition for backers.

"I started sailing in 1996, came from out of nowhere and said I wanted to sail and take it one step at a time," she said. "In four years I went to the Olympics, won a silver medal (at the Pan Am Games) and now I am third in the Worlds. I think that shows I have the determination, the discipline and the drive to succeed and it's just now a question of how much farther I can go."

Lane Wright said her appearance at the Sydney Games was a dry run for 2004 in Athens, Greece.

"In order to prepare for the Olympics - such a major event - in a single-handed boat you need a lot of funding, backing and support if you are going to do it properly," she said.

She said he had not trained much in the boat recently but was keeping physically fit in readiness for this season.

"It's a new year and it's just beginning," she said. "I go away on February 20 for my first regatta, the (Laser) Midwinter's in Florida so we'll just have to see how it goes."

As for the award, she admitted to being somewhat surprised.

"I haven't been here this past year very much and I wasn't sure what the other nominees had achieved," she said. "I had no idea."

Lane Wright put the award right up there with her accomplishments in the world of sailing.

"It's a great achievement," she said. "It's like getting a medal at the Pan Am Games and going to the Olympics. It's something else I can put up there with those other achievements."

She felt it was just reward for 12 months of hard work.

"This past year I probably did 15 events and ended by coming third in the Worlds," she said. "You don't always end your year by coming third in the Worlds."