Interview: Lynsey Sharp, 800m runner and Olympic hopeful

LYNSEY Sharp draws strength and inspiration from her father Cameron’s daily battle with the effects of a road accident 21 years ago

IN Edinburgh the other night, Lynsey Sharp, with her mother, Carol, and her father, Cameron, took a break from her preparations for the 2012 Olympic Games to go and watch Chariots of Fire at the cinema. She had never seen it before, never wanted to, but if ever there was a time to take in the sports movie that won four Academy awards, this was it.

Sharp, a 22-year-old 800m runner, was urged to watch the story of Eric Liddell, Harold Abrahams and the 1924 Games on an aeroplane recently, but decided against it. Having just failed to achieve the qualifying time for London 2012, she could think of better ways to spend a couple of hours above the clouds.

She still hasn’t achieved that qualifying time, but she is now a member of Team GB, and despite the controversy surrounding her selection, it was with a clear conscience that she and her family showed up at the Filmhouse on Thursday. “It was so inspiring, especially because it was Scottish, and I recognised some of the places,” says Sharp, born, bred and still living in Edinburgh.

That, though, wasn’t all that was special about it. In 1981, her mother and father, on one of their earliest dates, had gone to see the picture’s premiere at the Glasgow Film Theatre. Only the year before, Cameron had run for Great Britain at the Moscow Olympics, finishing fourth in the 
4 x 100m relay alongside Allan Wells, Drew McMaster and Mike McFarlane.

Lynsey has seen the footage of her father in those Games, where he reached the semi-finals of the 100m and 200m. She also has a collection of photographs that tell the story of his career. At three Commonwealth Games between 1978 and 1986, he won a gold and four bronze medals. In addition, there was a silver at the 1982 European Championship in Athens.

In his Edinburgh flat, he has some old videos, which he prefers not to look at. “The girls have seen them,” he says. “They’re looking at me and they’re looking at the television and they’re saying ‘is that really you?’ It’s just a long time ago.”

Cameron Sharp, now 54, is severely disabled after a traffic accident 21 years ago, since when he has spent much of his time learning to walk again, to talk and read and write, none of which comes easy, even now. He describes his daughter’s Olympic selection as “déjà-vu”, but this time he will not experience it in the flesh.

He has learned to live with the nerve pain that afflicts his left side, but some days are worse than others, and a visit to a packed Olympic Park is not a risk he is willing to take. “They’ve got a ticket for the stadium, but I don’t know... it could be here or it could be there,” he says, pointing first to the floor, then to the sky. “It’s a long walk, a fight. I’ve been to my sister’s in London, but I’d be on my own this time. I can watch her here, on the television. It’s a better view.”

Until a few months ago, he wondered if it might be possible to make the trip, but a fall in the supermarket set him back. Lynsey is disappointed, but she understands. “Obviously, I really wanted him to come, but it would be tough and he was worried about it. You can’t force him. He’s promised me he will come to Glasgow 2014.”

The accident, which happened when a minibus he was driving ploughed into a tree, changed Cameron’s life, as well as that of his wife, and his children. His feet and legs were broken in several places, his skull was fractured and his hip dislocated, but it was bleeding on the brain, initially undetected by doctors, that caused the long-term damage.

Cameron survived, perhaps thanks to the fitness and mental strength he had acquired as an athlete, but after the crash, he could barely recognise his family, never mind look after himself. Carol, also a former athlete, who represented Scotland in the 800m, had to care for him, as well as everything else, which she says had a profound effect on her personality, as well as that of Lynsey and her older sister, Carly. “I used to be the kind of person who wouldn’t take something back to Marks & Spencer if it was faulty. Then, when the accident happened, I suddenly became the bread-winner, the mum, the person that did everything, and I quickly learned not to take no for an answer. Lynsey was one-and-a-half, Carly was four, and they grew up to be the same. If someone knocks you over, you get up, dust yourself down and find another way.”

Lynsey, whose parents divorced when she was ten, says that her childhood led her to grow up faster than the average schoolgirl. “I don’t remember his accident, but I remember, throughout my whole childhood, questioning my mum about what happened and why. He used to have fits occasionally, and I can remember seeing that, and finding it quite hard. I learned at a young age about how grown-up life works.”

She also learned about the legal profession in which she is now qualified, after graduating recently from Napier University. For five years, she watched her mother fight for compensation from the health authority, whose doctors did not identify quickly enough the extent of Cameron’s head injury. Only in 1997 did they admit liability. “I was about seven or eight when the case was settled. I remember asking my mum a million questions about it. Even years later, I was asking her if I could see the court papers, and information on how they won.”

More than anything, Lynsey has learned to be a fighter. Her father could easily have given up, but he was too stubborn to be defeated, and even now, he will not use a wheelchair, preferring the daily routine of exercises that give him limited mobility. “Everyone is shaped by their experiences in life. All of my family are really strong, especially my dad, who has a determination that I think I also have. You need that to be successful in sport. What I’ve seen him go through… if that’s possible, anything’s possible.”

All of which has enabled her to fight, and win, her sporting battles, however trivial by comparison. She has had her share of adversity, such as the time she once overheard an athletics official saying that she would never make it, and the injury that forced her to miss 2009, but every time she is knocked over, she gets up, dusts herself down and finds another way.

At the Games, she will be under pressure again, thanks to the fuss about her selection. Sharp won the Olympic trial, as well as a silver medal at the European Championships in Helsinki, but unlike Marilyn Okoro, Jenny Meadows, Jemma Simpson and Emma Jackson – all of whom missed out – she hadn’t achieved the “A” standard qualifying time. Steve Cram, the former 1,500m runner, now a commentator, was among many who have been critical of the decision.

Carol, an athletics coach, says that, while the reaction was understandable at first, it has gone on too long. “I was a wee bit worried for a while. Even last Friday night at Crystal Palace, Cram was going on about it. They felt it necessary to have a go at her even then. I was thinking, ‘can you not just leave her alone now?’ You’ve said your piece. I thought, ‘if they keep going on and on, it could have an effect on her,’ but thankfully, it hasn’t. She got a PB the other night in the 400. She’s running well.”

The headmaster at Mary Erskine’s, where Lynsey went to school, and Carol is a teacher, urged the two of them not to respond to the criticism, but if they had, they could have argued that the form athlete was chosen. They might have said that, while others have posted quicker times, they are not necessarily the best racers. Middle-distance running requires nerve and tactical know-how, especially on the big stage.

Carol says that Lynsey has a change of pace, which is vital to her discipline. “There are people who are good at running flat out in what are basically time trials, and there are championship racers at 800m. There are not that many people out there, men or women, who can change pace, and that’s how you pick out the truly great elite performers. Look at [Steve] Ovett and [Sebastian] Coe. They were people who could suddenly put the boot in. I’m not saying Lynsey’s at their level, but you know what I mean.”

Lynsey and her mother admit that even reaching the final is likely to be beyond her in London, but if she can do herself justice, maybe record a personal best, and repay the faith shown in her by selectors, they will be happy. Some have suggested that it has come too early in her career, that Rio in 2016 will be when she is at her peak, but Lynsey wants to treat these Games as though they are her last. “It’s such an honour to have been picked, and they obviously have faith in me, so I don’t want to just go there and be part of the team. I want to do a good job.

“My dad went to Moscow when he was 21 and it was his only Olympics. He missed the next one through injury. So anything can happen. There is no guarantee I will get to the next ones. I have to make the most of this.”