Gymnast

As a sport, it can be pure joy.

But not at this level.

Gymnastics is not only a sport. It's a lifestyle.

It can bring people together.

It can pull them far apart.

It's our life.

Because once you learn to fly, you will never give it up.

ROAR OF APPLAUSE

Ladies, consider everything that is happening from now on

as steps and milestones for the Olympics.

Now, remember that the key point is to stay fit.

To maintain your health as much as you can.

You see something is not all right, don't slow yourself to get injured.

Better get some negative words, yeah? Than an injury.

You're on the way up, yeah?

You can do a lot more and I'm expecting you to do more.

You are... on top of the world

for a couple of seconds.

when you're on the podium

and you realise you are the best in the world.

But the first step you put down on the floor, you start from scratch again.

These gymnasts know that Addy, myself and Corrina

are watching them continuously.

We either have them at a training squad,

which would be at

the National Centre at Lilleshall,

or we'll go to their own centre.

We're continually assessing and thinking and seeing what they're going to offer.

So they know they're being assessed all the time and,

at the end of the day, six of them will be selected.

It's the Olympic Games. It's never out of your mind.

If it IS out of your mind, then you must not want it enough.

There's 10 to 12 of us that are really in contention

and it's going to be hard to lose.

-Everyone would love to be part of that six.

-Up, up, up...

You put them under as much pressure as you can

and see how they react on a do-or-die situation.

Because it's big pressure here, but it's nowhere near as big

as the Olympic pressure, with all the heartache,

tension, surviving, not surviving.

This is what their career is all about.

GULLS CRY

It's my life.

Ever since I was seven, I've not known anything different.

I've come to the gym, I've trained, gone home and then started it all over again.

So it's just part of my life and obviously I have to love it,

otherwise I wouldn't still be doing it.

I just want to see that letter saying, "we're pleased to say you are representing Team GB"!

Before I can think about anything to do with the Olympics.

Until then, I've got just competitions, like the British

and the Teams, help the team... hopefully get back up there.

-Get back up there.

-So, I guess...

But it's like any competition - I never dream of...

I guess you think about winning the world title, but I've never actually thought to myself -

"This worlds, I'm going to go and win a world title!"

COMMENTATOR: Come on, Beth.

Good luck. A score of 16.05...

for gold.

-COMMENTATOR:

-It's a very big series. Two releases.

This is the one that came to grief last night.

Whoah! She went for broke.

Come on, she must keep concentration.

More big skills to come.

And again. Now, this was where we had a few problems last time.

The full pirouette.

Into the dismount, full twisting double back, wow!

Fantastic, Beth!

What about that?! She's smiling, we're smiling!

She has scored 16.2!

-Oh, fantastic!

-How about that?

How about it!

Britain's Beth Tweddle!

The most difficult routine,

from the technicality,

are bars.

You have to be extremely well-equipped.

Speaking about the spatial awareness and about the feeling, yeah?

We call it the hanging.

So that you can use the bars

during a routine, in creating the type of momentum you need.

Some, like Beth, for example, have got ability to hang

and to assess the vibration of the bar instinctively.

My style is to analyse before I would use my discretion

and my gut feelings about the team.

There are different levels of abilities and, obviously,

some can compete better in trials.

Some can compete better in internationals.

And we have to find the right balance.

-Is it nice and warm on there?

-Yeah.

Hannah? Do something flippy.

-Go on, show Nana your full twist.

-Big high ones!

-Do some somersaults.

-She's got a trial for the Olympics

-right in the middle of doing four GCSEs.

-Oh, bless.

She's got her Maths GCSE, then she's got History and English on the Tuesday.

History on Thursday.

-Ah.

-I mean, she trains 30 hours and travels ten hours, so that's 40 hours out of her week.

I have Saturday night off, but I'm just too tired to go out.

I just can never be bothered to get ready.

By the time you get home,

you've got to have a shower and then get ready.

And then go out. And on Sundays, it's like my revising time, especially up to my exams.

That's always been my catch-up time for homework and exams,

and revision and stuff.

I love spending time with my mum and dad, because I hardly ever see them.

You see her during the week sometimes, she comes home at 9.30pm absolutely exhausted.

You have to ice her legs and hot-water bottles,

and I give her a bit of a rub on her calves cos they get tight.

So, er...she staggers me every day.

Do you think that you're there or thereabouts with the rest of them?

-Competing for that place?

-Yeah.

-You do?

-I'd say so.

-Good.

Good.

You've got every chance, haven't you?

-You know, obviously, how important it is.

-A big week.

A big few weeks coming up. There's no let-up after that, is there?

After this weekend.

-And I have to miss my Girls Aloud concert!

-Miss Girls Aloud?

-Let's hope it's worth it!

-Yep.

You can't always be perfect.

Like my mum always says, you're not a robot,

you can't always do everything right.

You're not programmed to do everything perfectly.

You have to have a few mistakes sometimes.

-OK there?

-Mm-hm.

-Hurts a little bit.

-Ooh, it's still tight there, isn't it?

My back pain...

is like something trying to stop me from getting there.

-If the triple's like that, then you're best doing a double twist.

-Yeah.

Then you get a C and no deduction, rather than...

'Some days, it's really sore.'

Every day you're just hoping that the next day you'll wake up

and it will be all right. But...

it doesn't.

Has there been a scan arranged for tomorrow afternoon yet?

'Um, no.'

Right, because if the scan's not done on Tuesday afternoon,

then it definitely takes the first trial out.

-'OK, I'll speak to you soon.'

-OK, see you soon, bye.

-'Bye.'

-Bye.

'Couldn't have happened at a worse time.'

But, um...

I'm not the only one with an injury, but...

feels like it, sometimes.

Hello.

Hiya, how are you? I'm good, thank you.

The only day I get off, so, just stay at home and chill for a bit.

Catch up with people on MSN, yeah?

Not bad, got like, first trial next week, which is going to be like...

eurgh, just going to be, like, so nervous.

Um, yeah, but preparation is going all right.

Training like 24/7.

'They've put you in because you're good enough to be there.'

And, yeah, there are bound to be people better than you,

but you wouldn't be there if you weren't good enough, or...

didn't have a chance of beating them, so,

just focus on what you have to do

and hopefully...you might surprise some people.

When you're waiting for the judges to put their hand up

before you compete, then the nerves really kick in,

especially if the beam starts shaking.

You have try and control yourself, cos you don't want to wobble.

'Becky's personality is very strong. Very strong.

'Becky has the track record -

'she's won the British junior title for four years on the trot.

'And Laura, she's a bit younger and a bit, sort of, almost immature.

'Always been behind her.

'Becky always wins everything and Laura is always the bridesmaid.

'Without each other, the level wouldn't be as good.'

Gymnasts have to be independent, they have to be mature.

You can't have your parents do any of the work for you,

it's all got to come from you and, if you don't want it,

then it won't happen. You have to want it to get to the top.

Good girl, it's OK. Good girl.

'Becky...'

'..She believes in herself quite a lot. She has, like, high hopes.

'She knows where she wants to be.'

-Push, good girl.

-Good girl, Becks.

-Good girl.

OK, good. Really good effort.

'Whereas, I don't believe in myself at all.

'I just don't think I can do it,'

I like to think of it, "I want to be there, not you."

But I want them to be there as well, with me.

Cos they've been with me throughout the whole time.

And I want everyone to be there, but not everyone can be there.

But I want to be there myself,

so if it has to, like, move one of the girls out, then it has to do that.

But...as long as I get my place, then I don't really mind,

but I just want all the girls to do their best.

-Thanks for the confidence(!)

-What do you mean, "Thanks for the confidence"?

-You're all fighting for six places.

-Yeah, six places.

But you're all fighting for that one place to get in.

It's not just important to you, it's important to us.

-I want to be able to put in that magazine.

-Nobody reads that, Mum.

Yes, they do. "Local girl makes Olympics."

Just think how all these that know...

Put your feet down, Laura, please.

All them on this street, "A local girl makes the Olympic Games."

It is the most important thing you've got to do.

-You've got to have a goal in life, Laura.

-I DO have a goal in life!

-So, what's your goal?

-Go to the Olympics.

If you get to the Olympics, you could be made. That you could.

Press, up, up.

Hold the legs.

LAUGHTER

Watch this!

'When we're in the gym, like you've seen us training,

we help and encourage each other as much as we can

and when we're at the teams, it'll be exactly the same,

because it's a team job.

But there's then also that personal rivalry of, "If she does well,

"then she could take my spot at the Olympics."

So, there is that bit of rivalry there, but...

we know it's not personal, it's just something that we do.

'It's a huge mistake, a competitor to think...

'what kind of competition it is, or, uh...

'to get over-excited,'

"Ah, it's the Olympics in Beijing",

or, "It's the Olympics in London."

No, it's not.

It's the next competition where I have to deliver my routines

at the level I am trained and that's it.

The moment you can control that, you become better and better.

No, Hannah was going to do the competition today, but she had a bone scan on Tuesday,

to put dye in to see what was what, and then had a cortisone injection on Wednesday...

-so John's recommended not to compete today.

-Have a rest?

Yeah, just to let the injection settle down.

'A lot of people say to me, "Oh, you don't need to worry, you'll get in,"

'but I've still got to produce the goods on the day,

'I've still got to show them that I'm competition fit.'

If I'm not producing the results, then I'm not competition fit -

they're not going to take me just because of my past achievements.

'I've got to prove to them that I'm fit ready for this summer.

'Not I was fit and ready for last summer.'

SHOUTS OF ENCOURAGEMENT AND APPLAUSE

'Everybody watches you.

'You kind of go all shaky and nervous.

'Especially if you've got family there.'

You want to do it well

so they can see what you're doing in the gym and stuff.

'It just makes your heart swell. And it makes you choke.

'It really does.'

'Because, well, you're just so proud.'

Come on, Han. Come on!

'Not doing the Olympics is not even a consideration at the minute.'

'They just want me to try my best and if it doesn't work out,

'then it doesn't work out.'

But, when it does go right, then they're over the moon for me.

They always say that they're proud of me and stuff.

Which gets to me, but it's nice.

APPLAUSE

APPLAUSE

APPLAUSE

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

'It was hard to watch everyone else doing the trial.'

And then it sort of made me feel like...

I hope the next two trials go as planned,

cos otherwise, that's it, really.

I think we will be a very compact team.

Not the most beautiful team in the world, yeah? But competitive.

Yeah, I know! That is the reality. What do you want?

To tell you that all of you are nice like the Chinese? No, you're not.

You are not getting any medals in the Olympics, I can swear. But...

Yeah? Now, Hannah Whelan, if you train like you have competed today,

you will have no problems.

Laura. I can say you competed very well.

I've told you, you are doing Arabian double front.

I haven't seen a lot of girls in the world doing Arabian double front

the way in which you do it.

It's amazing, yeah?

I've told you, you increase the amplitude of a lot of things you do.

Now, what can I say?

HIS VOICE FADES OUT

Laura.

The good thing is one of the best Arabian double fronts, yeah?

The bad thing is...here.

She has lots of height, but the arms are behind her body

and the arms should be in front of her body to be capable to land.

This is a move she's supposed to do.

This is the moment when she's losing the position of the arms,

because of the wrong position of the arms.

Have a look at the arms. Where are the arms now?

Yeah, already they are behind.

The arms should be in front of her body.

The most difficult routine from the physiological point of view

is actually floor.

But you have to fill in

a minute and a half with artistic moves and tumbling...

..which, you, with your face, and with your gestures,

you have to create a story.

But the quality of the tumbling will affect mainly the score.

So that the whole floor routine

becomes mixed towards predominant aerobic venture.

At this moment in time for me, the positions have no faces.

I don't care if it's Tweddle, Downie, Jones, King.

I don't care, as long as the team is capable to give us the best possible result.

I was fourth in that first trial.

I didn't expect that at all.

I'm more determined to prove that it wasn't just a one-off thing.

THEY SQUEAL AND GIGGLE

I'm glad to be home to sort my back out.

If I'd gone to Romania, it would have been just competition format

so I wouldn't have been able to build up my routines again slowly,

so I probably would have made it worse again.

COUNTRY AND WESTERN MUSIC PLAYS

We could be walking out of here fixed, couldn't we?

I propose putting some injections into those muscles and ligaments

and the tissues around where that swelling and inflammation is

to at least break that cycle of inflammation and pain that you've got into.

Over the next week, get back into your training programme

and confidently aim for doing your trials on Sunday.

So she'd be able to train tomorrow, but not today?

I think take it easy today, train tomorrow and play it by ear with your coach.

There's nothing really scientific about this. It's commonsense measures more than anything else.

OK, here we go. One line. This one here.

The day has started.

How are we feeling this morning?

Good?

-One good.

-Better.

-Better?

-Your back's getting better?

-Yes.

-It's looking up, isn't it?

-Yeah, really good.

-Looking up?

Quiet on the end there. Maybe because you don't know the warm-up.

You might have to lead it.

How are we doing down this end?

-Hm?

-We'll see once the warm-up starts.

SHE GIGGLES

I haven't made up my mind, not yet.

-One nervous.

-I'm tired.

-Are you nervous?

-Not nervous, tired.

-Not nervous?

What about my chilled captain here in her tracksuit and everything else?

No problem.

Accelerating, you feel something is not OK.

Don't be concerned of what happens above the bar.

Be concerned what happens underneath the bar.

Hang...kick. Yeah? Hang, kick.

Colin, go near her.

Calm. Hang, kick. Hang, kick.

Hang, kick!

You are still shy in the kick.

I know you dropped once from the bar and you are frightened.

Fine, but you are nowhere near being in a danger zone.

Nowhere near.

All right, leave it for the afternoon.

He says there's an injury risk on all the pieces,

but the bars I've just become more scared of,

because I'm not as good at it

so I think that I probably could get injured more.

I could...not do as well just because I'm holding back.

Be brave once, Hannah. Kick and go with the upper back.

You'll find out you rotate very well.

What are you thinking about all this coming up, then?

I think you'll do well, as always. Clue's your spirit, innit?

What's the alternative? You've been training all these years.

You want it, don't you?

I've got all those phone calls lined up in my head

that I'm going to make as soon as I know you're in.

-And I've got the big kiss and a hug ready for when you're not.

-Yeah.

So guess which one I want to do.

THEY CHUCKLE

-It would be quite scary.

-Scary? Why?

Because I've been working for ten years for this moment in my life.

Dear girl.

'You have got three players here,'

not two. You have got the coach, the athletes and the parent.

Now in a variety of scenarios it's parent-driven,

coach-supported, athlete-centred.

Or coach-driven, athlete-centred and parent-supported.

They become part of the game,

but it's a huge mistake to ignore them.

Ooh!

Ah!

I bet that's the ones what come to our house, you know.

-Look how cute they are.

-Yeah. Quack quack.

Look at those ones over there. I want those ones. Ah!

I know you can do it.

-To me, you're best in the world.

-Best out of everyone?

Best out of everyone, yeah.

-Just take care of yourself. Are you listening?

-Mm-hm.

I like to know that they're proud of me doing what I do.

It motivates you quite a lot. It's good.

The most difficult routine,

from the concentration point of view, is beam.

It's tumbling on a reduced surface.

It's floor, not 12 by 12, but five metres by ten centimetres.

You have to maintain a flat level of concentration and commitment.

Laura, I'm very pleased with you. Come here.

Very pleased. You made that extra effort. You brought it in line, lifted up and landed it.

Becky, before you begin this, can you have a go with an effort or say something?

If you're just achy and tired, then you need to fight.

If something's really sore, you need to say something.

You need to stop muttering and pulling faces and concentrate on the job.

Laura knows she's doing quite well and Becky is suffering a little bit.

-She knows Laura's getting better.

-That's exactly what I think.

As soon as Becky was huffing and puffing, Laura's like, "I'm going to do all right."

It's good for both of them, because Becky's got it in her,

when her body's working right, to pull it out.

Whereas Laura thinks she's getting better.

She's gaining confidence, she's getting sensible.

Sometimes you do need to be shouted at,

sometimes to wake you up or just...

Normally to wake you up and get more out of you.

If they said, "You don't need to do any more,"

then you wouldn't get any better and you'd never be pushed.

So it's not nice when you have to be pushed to the limit, but it is always for the best.

I do put a lot of trust in Amanda.

Amanda knows that you're going to have bad days

and if that bad day, you just say,

"Well, if I can get through one routine and it's good,

"then that's an achievement."

If I can do it on a bad day, I can do it on a good day.

If you happen to get to a competition feeling rubbish,

you still have to produce the goods, which is why, when you're in the gym

and you're not feeling well, or something's hurting,

and you push yourself through it, that's why she's pleased with you.

It might not be the best routine in the world

but at the competition you'll have more adrenalin

so it gives you the confidence that you can do it on any day.

I've seen more of Amanda than I have my parents, definitely.

Even when I was living at home I was at school all day

and then I was training for four hours.

I used to go home and go to bed.

My dad used to say the car journey home

was the quality time that he could get with me,

because he used to have me stuck in one place for an hour

and used to be able to talk to me about everything,

whereas now he doesn't even get that because I live away from home.

I couldn't have come this far without my dad, because he's the one

who takes me to the gym every day. I suppose...it's not just me.

He's had to pick up the pieces after I've been broken up

and completely down and stressed and everything.

Yeah, you don't really realise how important your parents are.

The trauma we're going through now is like nothing I've ever experienced.

-Never mind us. What about her up there?

-Exactly.

I feel guilty sometimes, feeling the way I do,

because it's what we want for her.

It's her parents wanting all that hard work and all those sacrifices

to end up meaning something, don't we?

You always talk about following your dream,

and it is just such, it's a big dream.

-Yeah.

-But it's within your grasp.

And if you actually went,

I wouldn't want to miss the opportunity of being there.

That's what we've worked so hard for.

So we've booked flights, we've booked tickets for the event,

and we've booked accommodation,

and we're hoping to be able to use all of those.

But if it doesn't happen,

then, then I don't want to put any pressure on you, Han.

Yeah.

Just one more step to get into Beijing.

You know, not many parents

can relate to how their daughter's feeling.

I think my dad's quite good at doing that,

and he's quite good at helping me and boosting me up.

When I do feel down, he'll sit and talk to me and think, you know,

"Look what I've been through, I've done the same as you."

He's just really supportive of me, to be honest.

The biggest positive thing for me

is when she comes home from training and she's had a good day.

When she comes home and she's got a smile on her face, then...

Because Mel keeps quite a lot inside, she doesn't really talk that much.

Every so often, every blue moon,

she'll have a really good chat with you about the gym,

but very, very rare.

Probably the rest of the girls are identical.

She comes home from training and she's got a smile on her face,

I know she's had a good day.

We'll see what she looks like when...

When she says, "Hello, Dad", I know she's had a good day!

If she doesn't say, "Hello, Dad", she's had a bad day.

Come on, Mel, you can do it.

-OK, over, come on.

-Catch, good girl, come on.

-Tight.

-One skill at a time, you can do it, come on.

-Come on, Mel.

-Just work it through, come on.

-Over.

Come on, feet over.

-Tight.

-Come on, Mel. Come on, push.

Good girl, Mel, come on.

TUTS

-Tight.

-Tight.

Come on, just work it through.

-Come on, Mel.

-Come on, Mel.

-Tight. Good girl, come on.

-Over.

-Come on, Mel, you can do this.

-Come on.

Come on.

-Come on.

-Come on, Mel.

Come on, Mel. Tight.

Tight.

Come on, just work it through.

Come on, you can do this.

Good girl, Mel, come on.

-Nice, don't waste it now.

-Come on, finish it off. Tight.

-Push.

-Feet over.

Come on, keep it up.

Two mistakes, hands down on dismount, that's just sloppy.

Come on, Mel.

Come on. Come on, Mel.

Go on, Mel. Come on.

Tight. Good girl, Mel, come on.

-Come on, over the bar.

-You can do this.

Good girl, Mel, come on.

Come on, Mel.

Push. Good girl, come on. Come on now, go for it.

That's it, come on. You can do it.

Do you think that's actually going to achieve anything?

For the team or yourselves? No.

It is hard when you're travelling 25 miles in the car on your own,

and she doesn't want to speak and...

You just have to sit there and drive home in silence.

And say, "Do you really want to do this?"

Because you can stop, you can say no, and it can all stop.

And she's never, ever said that.

I always thought, the day she turns round and says,

I don't want to do this anymore,

we'd stop straightaway, but she's never, ever said it. Never.

Right, the only one thing I want to tell you

is to underline the importance of this trial.

For some of you, this trial can be make or break it.

Yeah? Right.

Right, the good thing or the bad thing?

-Bad.

-The bad thing, you make my life very difficult to decide.

The good thing - everybody is still in contention.

Speaking about performances - Hannah,

you don't have plenty of chances, I don't have to tell you, you know.

Everybody knows it's difficult to come from injuries.

But now, you have under your belt one trial.

Yeah?

Marissa, if you are not delivering where you are powerful,

I don't know if Jo has calculated, have you calculated?

What is the ranking of Marissa on vault?

-On vault?

-Yeah.

For today?

-6.

-6.

That means, theoretically,

I can leave you out, I will compete with the other five.

Colin, your observations?

Erm, Laura, I thought that was an unfortunate competition for you,

and one you need to pick up on for next time, to re-establish yourself.

Imogen, I was pleased with you, I thought you've moved forwards again.

Came strong on two pieces, it's whether you can show

on one more piece as to how useful you're going to be.

Mel, you didn't do a great job this time, but there's still time.

Polish, polish, polish, polish -

try to lose the minimum amount of points.

Keep on top of my training and not do too much,

so that it will make my back worse again.

Improve on a couple of pieces from the last trial.

When you up your game, they up their game.

You handled the first two trials badly, as you know.

And you are not in yet.

You are not. You could, you are not.

Wow! You now need to be careful,

because that last one was bordering on dangerous.

Hannah?

Don't worry, don't.

Look, I know you are tired,

I know you have done all the competitions and so on,

I want to see you how you cope being tired.

No problem whatsoever.

This is part of preparation. Good.

From now on, don't try to put anything else in.

No, no, no, no - stabilise, be calm and deliver.

That is the most important thing.

Well done, ladies.

Keep fit this week.

See you next weekend.

-Right.

-Thanks.

If you could have a dream team of your six gymnasts for the Olympics,

-they'd look like Hannah Whelan.

-I know, definitely.

The Romanians used to get that shape, but even they don't.

The Soviets used to get that shape,

but the pressures of society these days

don't allow them to go that thin

unless they are very naturally that thin.

She's just so lucky that she's built like that.

On bars, I just don't seem to have the natural ability

to do them as well or get the skills as quickly as other gymnasts.

Today we have to be brave, braver than we've been before.

Here on the downswing was good, and then at this point you scooped.

You knew we was going to be at this point.

You knew it yesterday, you knew it the day before

we were going to be at this point.

Well, we are at this point.

Now, we've got to get really brave.

Hannah Whelan - huge talent.

Optimum body.

Still she can be a lot better.

That should have felt good.

I hope she will believe.

When you speak about Clowes, they are mixed feelings.

She hasn't got the shape, but she's an extremely hard worker,

and everything she achieved, she achieved working very hard.

What I hope is, she's remembering that when she's achieving,

she's achieving it with hard work.

The moment when she's trying to work less, I don't think she's useful.

Marissa is a good vaulter. She could be a lot better.

Unfortunately, she came in the game a little bit late.

We call her the indestructible body, because she's so strong,

and she's so aware.

Not a very good one.

The most difficult routine

for the power of concentration, is vault.

In seven seconds, you are done.

In less than two seconds, you have got lots to do.

To attack the springboard, to attack the vaulting table

and to land in the middle of the corridor

without deduction and without movement.

There are 13 girls still fighting for the six places in Beijing.

And even after two trials and four control events,

the situation is not clear, it is as complicated as it can be.

So, the last trial will probably decide.

"First exam - how awesome are you?

"15 years old, with maturity and discipline beyond your years.

"We are so proud. Whatever you achieve will be fantastic,

"because we know you have worked your hardest in studying and at gym.

"We are here to help, support, feed and massage.

"Anything to get you through this busy time.

"Go for it, Han, do your best, you always do.

"And through it all, you will always be our little girl. Love you, Dad.

"Love you so much, Mum."

Before we start, yeah,

we went through a long journey together, yeah?

And this is the last stop before selection.

Some of you tomorrow will cry,

some will feel that their dreams are somehow fulfilled.

Now, believe me, I'm trying to be as straight as I can be.

You have to understand that, and be mature.

I've told you. I feel sorry for some of you, yeah, I feel sorry,

but it's not the end of the world.

Yeah?

All right?

Good luck to everybody. And I can't wait.

I am excited!

Really excited!

See you.

-Come on, Hannah.

-Come on.

Yes!

Come on, keep it going now.

Good girl, Mel!

Take that, eh? That's a good start, well done.

Well done, that was awesome. The dismount was good.

-Come on, Hannah!

-Come on, Hannah.

Hannah Clowes has to do a brilliant competition today, to have a chance.

Come on, Han.

Come on, Hannah!

-Come on, Hannah!

-Come on, Han.

Come on, Han!

Come on. Finish it off!

Come on, Hannah.

Come on, Hannah!

Come on!

-Come on, Hannah.

-Come on, Han! Come on, Hannah.

Come on, Hannah.

Come on, Hannah!

All right? Just a little bit late.

Everything else was very nice, though, good girl.

Over the top, plant those heels down on the beam, and press in.

Come on, Laura!

She'll do it, she'll do it, come on, girl.

-Come on, Laura!

-Come on, Laura!

Has she stuck so far?

-Come on, Laura.

-Come on.

Come on, girl, come on.

Come on, Laura.

Come on, Hannah.

It's all right, it's all right, listen, listen, listen.

We don't panic now.

Yes, it wasn't the greatest routine, Hannah.

But we've got to keep fighting,

you keep this chin up for me.

You can still do it, believe me.

Laura fell, Becky fell, Mel put her hands down, Marissa fell -

they've all gone.

We can't change that, Hannah.

We can't change it, yeah? So don't worry about it.

We need a little bit more now on the floor,

and you have got that little bit more on the floor.

And now we need it.

Come on, Hannah!

-Come on, Laura.

-Come on, Laura!

-Come on!

You listen to me now, listen to me carefully, and take this in.

It is not over until it's over.

Hannah Clowes has come off the beam twice, OK?

So pull yourself together, pull yourself together.

It's not over, it's never over.

She's crying now.

-Hey?

-She's crying now.

I'll tell you what, you've got a fun night tonight!

Has anybody made it easy? Has anybody gone, "Yes, I'm going to make it"?

No, nobody. They've all gone, "You sort it out."

Right, Colin, Colin, yeah? In this order, as a discussion point...

Just because I've put everything aside for this -

like, my schoolwork and everything,

so, hopefully, it'll happen in the end. Get my dream.

It overwhelms your life,

because of what it means, what's going to be announced tomorrow,

it overwhelms your life for a period of time, everything else becomes insignificant.

Because of her back, she hasn't done enough training.

-Correct.

-Yeah? Now...

So, which five would you put up on bars?

Yeah... As a possibility,

-and it's not only the bars at this moment.

-I know, but that's our weakest piece.

As I say, I believe your life's planned out. What's meant to be is meant to be.

If it's not meant to be this time, eventually, she'll get there.

It might not be this year, it might not be till 2012. But we believe one day

she might get that Olympic gold - or one of the Olympic medals.

I just want to see her be rewarded for all her efforts over the years,

and for her to have the chance to realise her dream.

-Are we treating them all equal?

-Yes.

Colin, it's not doing...

-Colin, Colin, it's not doing...

-I just need this clear...

Yeah, yeah, Colin - it's not doing it in the sense of doing it -

those wild cards are given, yeah,

to sustain the effort of the team.

Absolutely want it.

I want Hannah to be in Beijing.

I want Hannah to be able to say to people

for the rest of her life, "I represented Great Britain at the Olympics."

What an honour. What a thing to be able to say.

I understand from today, we are going to stay mum...

-What means mum?

-Quiet.

-Extremely quiet.

What I want is that when we leave, go through that door,

that's it, end of story, and we have said our piece.

That's all I want.

OK, everyone? Yeah? OK, thank you very much indeed.

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls,

the announcement of the gymnasts chosen to compete in Beijing

is just a few moments away.

Good luck, our kid.

-Cheers.

-Good luck.

-It's all we could hope for, isn't it?

-All the best, yeah.

Do you want me to tell you?

Yeah, all right, good. I will tell you.

Right, the six who are going...

Becky Downie.

Laura Jones.

Marissa King.

Beth Tweddle.

Hannah Whelan.

Rebecca Wing.

You have to understand that it was not an easy decision.

Everybody's crying. Everybody's crying.

If I stay there, I will start to cry myself.

Chin up, yeah?

Bigger and better things to do - believe it or not! Yeah?

Just giving you a cuddle because you looked like you were carrying the world

on your shoulders. I know that's your job, but...

The six gymnasts selected to represent Great Britain

at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing in alphabetical order are...

Becky Downie!

The second gymnast to represent Great Britain, Laura Jones!

Yes! Get in there!

The third gymnast to represent Great Britain -

Marissa King!

The fourth gymnast to represent Great Britain -

Beth Tweddle!

The fifth gymnast to represent Great Britain -

Hannah Whelan!

The sixth gymnast to represent Great Britain -

Rebecca Wing!

-See you in Beijing.

-Are you coming?

-Yeah. I'll be here with my whistle!

-Biggest surprise of my life.

-It is ours.

We told you, didn't we?

And congratulations to all the gymnasts and their parents.

We wish them all the best of luck with the Olympics.

Hey, what did I say four years ago?

You make me so proud.

I could not believe it.

'My dad was saying it's sort of like when you lose someone...

'like, that's how he said it felt, but...'

I haven't lost anyone before, but...

..it doesn't feel nice.

Seeing that happen to your child is something I would never want to repeat.

Never.

Obviously, you try not to cry, but you can't hold it in.

And it just gets worse when someone...

even when someone's nice to you, it makes it worse as well.

Even though they're trying to be nice.

But it just makes you think about it again.

INAUDIBLE CHATTER

Right, now, remember that we fly from Great Britain

to Hong Kong, which normally takes 12 hours.

We arrive late afternoon, let's say at about 5 o'clock.

This is a residential zone

and our block is here.

Try to share and live like a family.

Are there any eights?

I'll need about a 10 or a 12.

Here is a dedicated tube line for Olympians.

Not allowed to run on the stage.

You will eat what the nutritionist will tell you to eat.

One, two, three, yeah! Thank you.

Obviously, bikes, forget it.

Soak up the atmosphere of the Olympic Games and have a great time.

To go out there and do my job that I've been training for for the past four years.

Ladies, remember that the Chinese have learnt English.

If you make jokes, they will consider the jokes

to be offensive towards the Games,

they can come to ship you home like that.

Behave as professional as you can be.

I don't try to interfere in your private life here,

but your private life in the Olympics is not your private life.

Go, go, go.

CHEERS

Hooray!

Happy birthday, Han.

Happy birthday, Hannah.

You have to make a decision now.

If we have to replace her, not to take her at all

-and if we don't have...

-Do we have to make the decision...?

No, we have to make the decision probably before Friday evening.

-Well, why don't we have the scan...

-Of course, yeah, yeah.

Laura, go and get your stuff, my love.

-I've got it.

-There's another bag.

You need something warmer than this.

I'm just going to go and get the directions

and then go and wait by my car. OK?

Then I did the front thing and I felt it go down my leg a bit.

And then after the free walk, that's when I proper felt it

and then I got to my dismount and my leg just collapsed.

Well...

you're doing heavy work at the moment, aren't you?

So you can't expect to have nothing at all, no pain at all,

from what you've been through before, so...

..it'll ease off a little bit, I'm sure it will settle down again.

But don't get yourself in a state.

Cos that's not going to help anything.

Everything else will go wrong then.

Come on, Linda.

She was doing her skill on the beam,

landed the skill with a back somersault,

so they told me, I didn't see it.

But, um, got herself injured, so...

..we happened to have our orthopaedic surgeon in the gym,

he looked at her and said we need to have a scan,

so she's on the way down the motorway to have a scan

to get a decision and then the medics make the decision.

I need medical statements this time, not opinions.

-I know, yeah, so obviously we need to wait for the official...

-Yeah.

You've nearly picked off all of that nail varnish you put on.

-COACH:

-Right, so, Jones is in the hospital, yeah?

-Yeah.

Right.

Er, if it's about changing the kit to swap over,

what is the difference in size between you and Jones?

The same.

-The same?

-About.

Because physically, there's no time, if I have to replace her,

to re-kit you and that will happen probably in Macau or Beijing.

As you are at the moment,

you don't think you could perform to your full level?

Not to the full level, but I could perform, if I had to.

OK.

Whatever she requires and needs, whatever that might be,

it might just be loads of experience, it might need friendship,

it might need whatever, but you're going to need to support her,

cos she will for sure need some support. OK?

And then we'll see what happens,

decisions will be made at some stage, you know, by the medical people.

That's probably tomorrow.

Well, let's not think about that.

Let's not think about that. Let's stay positive.

Let's hope it all works out.

The recommendation is not to take her.

The recommendation is for her to start in eight weeks.

The doctor, the specialist injected her,

asking her to train somehow today and to see how it is.

But the risk is the disc is popping out, it's goodbye gymnastics.

That is a big risk.

Other than that, she can be eventually mended

over a longer period of time. Yeah. So that she can carry on.

Your first target, don't give up. It's not about the time to give up.

Laura, I know, it's a bitter pill

to swallow and I feel very sorry for you,

but that is life. Er...

Stick in your head, the first thing you have to do is to mend your back.

Yeah? Not to work on the back in a dodgy situation, you know.

Mend the back, yeah? Keep feet, yeah?

And from January, yeah, come back with the full power.

I don't think it's any big problem.

You work very hard, but what can I say?

Yeah, everybody is feeling so bad. Yeah.

Yeah... Yeah... Look, I've told you.

Laura. Life is a bitch. And round.

Nobody only had good things in life, everybody had bad things in life.

Yeah? You are at the bottom.

It will come a time when you will smile again.

Yeah? But here, Laura. It's about here.

How strong you are here. I know you are very strong.

ACCORDION PLAYS

THEY SING IN CHINESE

I took over United Kingdom

and at that moment in time they were only the 22nd place in the world.

Gradually we improved them.

In the last World Championships we came sixth.

Before we have been a participant, now we are a contender.

Though the medals are not probably, but they are possible.

And, er, we will fight for them.

CHEERING

DRUMMING

CHEERING

As a group, the quality and diversity of the characters,

it's nice to look at them and realise they are not robots.

They are not stereotype.

They are not regimented.

Day by day they are growing and improving.

My heart was probably beating as fast as it's ever beaten.

It was really scary but I was really excited as well.

I did want to cry, because we were there, but obviously you couldn't burst into tears

because everyone would be like, "What's the matter?" All of us felt the same.

Seeing the whole crowd and the lights

and the other competitors walking in with you,

the TV screens, it just made it completely real.

It was just amazing.

Perhaps they did get to go to the Olympics.

Didn't get into the actual team

and I don't think I could hold it against them.

Obviously there is that little bit there that you just wish it was you.

I didn't know whether I'd be able to cope with the pressure

because it's my first big competition

and I think I knew that it was a gamble to choose me really.

I haven't got any experience whatsoever.

'High hopes for her for the future.'

'Wonderful tumbling from Hannah Whelan. My word!'

'It is our dreams to go to the Olympics.

'To get there was just so amazing.

'You're actually there, you're actually doing it.

'It actually did make it, and this is the day.'

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