The prodigy comes of age

Published on Sunday 21 July 2002 01:00

HELEN Galashan was a twinkle in her father’s eye when the Commonwealth Games last visited Britain. The gymnast was born a year later, in 1987; fourteen years later she finds herself the youngest member of the Scottish team.

The mental calculations throw up all sorts of eyebrow-raising revelations: Galashan was barely talking when the Ben Johnson drugs scandal broke in Seoul; she had just mastered walking as Gazza’s tears fell in Italy; and she was just four when, in her own discipline, the Russian Vitaly Scherbo won an unprecedented six gold medals at the Barcelona Olympics.

Galashan’s own gymnastics career began in the same year, in a gym near her home in the small village of Cultheth, near Manchester. Her father hails from north of the Border, and Galashan says she didn’t hesitate to answer the call of the Scottish team.

Fifteen on Tuesday, she is even younger than Gemma Nicol, the 400metres prodigy, but is the youngest member of the squad only because her twin sister Carol, born 10 minutes later, was ruled out with an elbow injury.

"I’m quite proud," says Helen, "I suppose it means I could have a big future. I’ve represented GB six times, and then this year I had my biggest achievement when I was selected for the European junior championships in Greece. That was really good. The team was eighth. We did what we wanted to do."

Galashan does not become a fully-fledged senior until January next year, but despite her junior status she is mature for her years, and supremely dedicated.

School, for instance, is only an occasional part of her life: how else would she manage a 25-hour training week that includes six-hour sessions on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays?

Galashan looks up to the Romanian, Andreea Raducan, whose gold medal was removed after a positive drugs test at the Sydney Olympics when her doctor advised her to take medication for a heavy cold ("I think she deserved to win," she says.)

The gymnast’s admiration for Raducan is undoubtedly down to one significant fact: the 2000 Olympics are the only major games she can actually recall. She was only 12 at the time, remember. So, what of the last Commonwealth Games?

No, that’s asking a bit much. Not slow to answer most questions, Galashan responds with one of her own: "They were in Kuala Lumpur, weren’t they?"