Discus Twin It to Win It

-I'm Imogen.

-And I'm Amelia.

-BOTH: And we're identical twins.

And we're 11 years old.

This summer, we're competing at the National Dwarf Games,

the UK's biggest sporting event for little people.

And today, we're competing for the medals at the discus.

Our next event is throwing something called "a discus."

'So, we haven't really been throwing much, have we?'

'No, especially the discus.

'We're not entirely sure what a discus is.

'It must be kind of similar to a rugby ball, right?'

That failed.

THEY LAUGH

-What are you doing?

-Throwing the discus?

-Have you ever seen someone throw a discus before?

-Yeah, like this.

-No, that's the javelin.

-BOTH: Oh.

I think you girls are going to need a lot of help with this one.

I think Riley's right.

Maybe it would help if we actually found out what a discus is.

We are here at Loughborough University.

-To meet Disco Dan!

-No, Amelia.

-It's Discus Dan!

-OH!

-Look over there. There's Dan.

-Oh!

-So, THAT's what a discus looks like.

-How does he throw that far?

There's only one way to find out. Let's go meet him.

Discus, not Disco, Dan, is a Paralympic gold medallist.

He knows that to throw the discus, it's all about using the

right technique so he's just the man to show us how it's done.

How can I help you out?

We're competing in discus but I don't think we're good enough yet.

Yeah, we need some tips on our technique. Reckon you can help?

Why don't you come and have a throw

and I'll see where I can help you out?

'Go on, then, Imogen. Show us how it's done.

'OK, how difficult can it be?'

'Oh. That's not right.'

'OK, you have a go then.'

I don't think it's like that either.

BOTH: We clearly need some help.

Well, girls, that was a start. I'm just going to give you a few

tips on how to improve your throw, OK?

So, first of all, we're going to try and fit our fingers just over

the edge of the discus.

That means that when we throw it we can flick it up with the

fingers and it'll stay nice and flat.

Second one is to keep your right arm really high.

We'll be able to get a lot bigger pull and it will be

a more powerful throw. OK, let's give it a go.

Wicked. Put your weight under your right leg, that's it.

-Awesome.

-It's very satisfying, throwing the discus.

-I feel quite impressed with myself.

-That was really good.

Keep your arm up and a nice, big, long pull.

Yeah, we've got it now. Come on, Imogen.

Wow. That's a big improvement.

I thought a huge improvement.

Because at the beginning I wasn't even throwing it in the

correct way. Then, it was actually pretty cool

to actually throw it like that.

'I think we've got the technique down.

'But, to be good, we have to be

'super-strong to throw it really far.'

We've come to the home of British Gymnastics...

to meet superstar gymnast Kristian Thomas.

-Kristian has won gold for Team GB...

-at the Commonwealth Games.

He's got some serious muscles.

So, you guys would like a bit of help with your upper body strength?

Yeah, we need to be as fit and strong as possible.

I've got a few exercises that I think could help

-Shall we give them a try?

-BOTH: Yeah.

So I was thinking, girls,

that maybe we could have a go on these rings.

I'll give you a quick demonstration from the bottom,

all the way up to the top.

-Wow!

-That is amazing!

The great thing about the rings is that it uses all

the upper body strength. You've got the biceps, the triceps,

the shoulder muscles, the deltoids, so it's absolutely

brilliant exercise in helping with the discus throw.

'Oh, my gosh, he's not expecting us to do THAT, is he?

'It's so high!'

All right, then, girls, who's going to go first?

-You.

-Amelia, shut up.

-You.

-No, you.

-You.

-You.

-There's only one way to settle this.

BOTH: Rock, paper, scissors.

Ha! Boom. You have to go first.

-And hang onto the rings. How many are we going for?

-Three?

Three, let's go. One, two, three.

Because of our height, we're physically not as

strong as other people because, obviously, we're smaller.

Kristian gave me great advice.

I do feel more able to throw the discus, now.

And I know that Kristian wants us to be training

harder but there's just too much fun stuff to do here!

Kristian gave us a training programme which we'll try to

stick to but it's hard to keep to going because we get bored.

If we want to do well, we're going to have to work on our

mental stuff as well as our physical strength.

-We've been practising our strength for discus.

-But what we really

need help with is our mental strength.

So, we asked Bobby Lockwood for help.

He told us to meet here with our helmets.

We have no idea what's in store.

BOTH: Let's go!

Bobby Lockwood plays Rhydian in Wolfblood.

But after his success in the London Marathon,

we think he's a perfect person to help us out.

-Hi, Bobby.

-Hello.

-Hello!

So, why have we brought our helmets?

Well, I thought it would be quite

fun if I gave you two a bit of a challenge.

And I'm not going to lie, it is quite scary.

You're going to have to be mentally strong

to want to get over it and do it.

What we're going to be doing today is a little bit of a leap of faith.

Bobby wants us to swing across this three-metre drop.

-That's three times taller than we are.

-We really don't want to do it.

The thing is, it's going to be all the more fun because you're

a little bit scared.

And the more scared you are, the better it's going to feel.

'But it doesn't feel fun right now.

'The rest of our family are trying to convince us to do it.'

No offence, Riley, but I don't trust you at all.

'When you're as small as us, trust me, this is huge.'

'Finally, Amelia is braver than me and steps up to give it a go.'

You're taking that leap of faith.

One, two, three.

Took the leap of faith. Look at that!

APPLAUSE

Well done!

-Five!

-'That was really scary, but come on, Imogen. You can do it.'

-One, two, three, go!

-APPLAUSE

Girls, first off, high fives. That was awesome.

Was it easier once you saw your sister do it?

-Did you think oh, I can do that?

-A bit, yeah.

-A bit.

I'm proud of you, you proud of yourselves? Proud of each other?

There you go. And that's the thing, you have each other to, you know,

you can help each other as you go along.

-That was so awesome, aren't you glad we did it?

-Yeah. It was scary.

-But wasn't Bobby really nice?

-Yeah, he's so dreamy.

We finally arrived at the National Dwarf Games.

But one thing we haven't trained for is this horrible weather

as we prepare for the discus.

It was quite cold, so it was hard to, like, just think about that one

thing because there was loads of distractions.

I was just really hoping I beat my personal best.

'We all get three throws with the person who throws the

'furthest getting the gold medal.

'And I'm up first.'

Come on, Amelia!

Well done!

I felt, like, kind of determined and I tried to, like, try my best.

Come on, Imogen.

'That wasn't too bad for our first throw but it's going to take

'more to beat our rivals.'

'The competition is fierce as we get to our final throw.

'That last one was definitely our best,

'but was it good enough to get either of us a medal?'

My first throw wasn't that good

but then my last throw felt really good.

I was actually really proud of myself because it was

actually quite tough because there was a lot of people we were against.

'Yes! Amelia got bronze.'

'And Professor Flitwick presented it to me.'

'Amelia, his real name is Warwick Davis.'

'I know!'

I'm actually really proud of myself.

I was just really happy to actually win a medal.

I got a bronze medal.

-I'm going to catch up to you soon.

-No you're not.

-Yeah, I am.

-Not.

Yeah, I am....