My Olympics: Kelly's story

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There is a certain mystique about the Olympics and those talented enough to be able to compete in them.

The greatest Olympians are elevated to demi-god like status, their names etched into history for time immemorial.

The monikers of Redgrave, Holmes, Coe, Pinsent, just roll off the tongue.

But for all those legendary almost mythical figures there are a hundred other Olympians who have trained just as hard, given up just as much and dedicated themselves to their sport to a similar, unimaginable level.

One of these is Kelly Rawlings (nee Hackman) , the Advertiser’s web editor, an Olympic gymnast who has now swapped the gymnasium floor for the newsroom and never lets on that she was once one of the chosen few to represent Great Britain in the Sydney Olympics in 2000.

Kelly took up the sport when she was five because her sister Kirstie did gymnastics and Kelly wanted to follow in her older sister’s footsteps.

A bundle of almost manic youthful energy as a child, Kelly freely admits that her early passion for the sport was probably a great relief for her parents.

“I was always hanging off things and rushing about when I was young,” she said. “So I think my parents were just delighted that they’d found a way for me to use up some of my energy.”

From humble beginnings in Woodside gym in Watford, Kelly progressed through the ranks and the age groups before being selected as one of six girls to take up permanent residency at the Lilleshall National Sports centre in Shropshire when she was17.

The journey was not always a smooth one and getting there involved significant changes in both hers and her family’s lives.

She moved schools and lodged with her trainer Clem Malcomson and his family before her parents Ralph and Tricia decided to move house from Watford to Woking in Surrey locate her nearer to the better facilities of the Woking Gymnastic Club, but despite the disruption and later the time spent away from her family in Lilleshall one thing remained constant, her love of gymnastics.

“It was just something that I always wanted to do. I couldn’t imagine doing anything else,” she added.

“I used to think that I’d still be doing it be when I was 60, I just couldn’t imagine not.”

Her passion, dedication and talent took her all the way to the top of her field in Britain and across the world with the national team.

The Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpar in 1998, the World Championships in China in 1999, followed by the Paris European Championships in 2000 were just some of the highlights.

But one event surpassed them all - the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

When quizzed on how it felt to be selected, Kelly became uncharacteristically quiet as if struggling to find the words to describe the momentous moment.

“I don’t want to sound cheesy, but it was just amazing,” she recalled. “I couldn’t take the smile of my face.

“We had been at the British Championships and I’d never been able to give my best there for some reason.

“I knew that if I performed well enough on the day I would make the team.

“For so many years I had wanted to make the Olympic team and I’d always wanted to go to Australia and it all came down to that one final competition.

“I gave a clean performance and won the bronze which I never usually did and then they announced the team.”

So aged 19, a near veteran in gymnastics terms, Kelly was part of the GB team at one of the most memorable Olympics in history.

Sydney 2000 was the year of Sir Steve Redgrave’s recordbreaking fifth gold medal and Cathy Freeman’s awe-inspiring 400 metre gold victory in front of her Sydney home crowd, but much of the early tournament went like a blur for Kelly.

“I remember walking out of the stadium after we’d finished the competition and for the first time realising how amazing the crowd and the stadium was,” she said.

“When we arrived, we were so focused on the competition that we didn’t notice what was going on around us. We just worked like clockwork and concentrated on our preparation for the competition.”

The team ended up in 10th place out of the 12 teams much to the delight of the team who never harboured realistic expectations of a medal in one of the most competitive of Olympic sports.

But when the competition finished Kelly began to be able to appreciate what was around her.

“The Olympic village was just amazing,” she remembered. “There were people from all over the world wandering around in their different coloured team tracksuits chatting and meeting people.

“There was a contagious friendliness about everyone. People were very proud of their own countries and wanted to tell you about them.

“And there was a big map in the centre of the village and hundreds of the athletes had stuck pictures of themselves on the map to show everyone where they had come from.”

The Olympic picture that Kelly paints is one of a world of colour and friendship, with giant food halls with every cuisine imaginable and giant basketball players conversing with teenage gymnasts.

She can remember vividly the night when the Redgrave’s historic rowing four came singing down the street after their gold success and she recalls sneaking into the Sydney stadium to catch a glimpse of Michael Johnson race round the track to claim his second successive 400 metre gold.

But maybe her best memory was of the closing ceremony: “I remember all the athletes just packed into any available space there was on the field a bit like a concert crowd, but made up of lots of athletes.

“There were people of different nationalities and sizes everywhere, all with their colourful tracksuits on and with silly hats and cameras. It was crazy.

“Because we were small we couldn’t really see but we were lifted up by some rowers who hoisted us up onto their shoulders so we could see everything- it was very special.”

Special indeed.