Driscoll's Olympic leap of faith (From The Northern Echo)

Driscoll's Olympic leap of faith

10:00am Wednesday 11th January 2012 in Athletics News By Scott Wilson

AS Britain's highest-ranked trampolinist, Kat Driscoll is used to taking a series of leaps.

But when she competes in the trampolining test event at London's North Greenwich Arena on Friday, the Durham-based gymnast is hoping to propel herself into the British Olympic team.

Thanks to Driscoll's performances at last year's World Championships, Britain are guaranteed a spot in the female trampolining event at this year's Games, but despite her position at the top of last year's World Cup rankings, the 25-year-old, who trains at the Apollo club in Washington, is not yet certain to fill it.

The British selectors will consider results from four competitions - last year's Worlds, this week's test event, April's European Championships and a final British trial - before confirming their Olympic representative.

Driscoll's display at the World Championships means she is in pole position, and a strong showing on Friday would leave her with at least half an arm in a British Olympic vest.

"It's a really big competition for me," said Driscoll, who moved to the North-East from her native Kent seven years ago. "There are four events that score towards the Olympics, and the selectors will choose the best two preliminary scores and the best two scores from a final.

"I was the only Brit to make the finals of the worlds, so I'm the only one with a finals score to their name at the minute. I'm the only Brit in the test event because each country is only able to nominate one competitor, so if I could make the final of the test event as well, that would make it two from two.

"There's only two events left after that, so there would be massive pressure on anyone wanting to catch me because they'd have to make both finals and then perform really strongly in them.

"The pressure would be off me a little bit, so hopefully I'd be able to relax and do well there anyway."

Friday's test event is designed to mirror the Olympic trampolining competition, thereby giving Olympic organisers an opportunity to fine-tune their procedures and timetable.

Sixteen competitors will take part in the preliminary round, with eight progressing to the final.

Normally, a major trampolining competition is staged over four days, with up to 80 gymnasts taking part. Like the Olympics though, Friday's event will be done and dusted in a little over two hours, placing greater pressure on each routine.

"The Olympics are completely different to a normal event, so it's going to be good to experience what the day might be like," said Driscoll, who gave up a full-time job with a bank last year in order to pursue her Olympic dream.

"First, it'll be interesting to see how I handle having everything condensed into such a short space of time. You go in and compete and then, bang, it's the final.

"It'll also be good to get used to the venue that'll be staging the Olympics in the summer.

"I've been there before, in 2000, but it was a fair bit different then because it was the Millennium Dome.

"From the point of view of competing in the summer, it'll be nice to have done this event because at least everything won't be so new and daunting."

The test event will also give Driscoll an opportunity to try out her Olympic routine in the heat of competition.

At the Games, trampolinists will be asked to complete two routines.

The first is a compulsory routine designed to test a number of core skills. The second is an optional programme where competitors can choose the level of difficulty and the number of moves they attempt to squeeze into a strictly-controlled time frame.

Driscoll has already chosen the optional routine she will perform in the Olympics, and while some gymnasts might opt to keep their Olympic programme under wraps, the two-time British champion is looking forward to performing it in front of a hometown crowd.

"A lot of research has gone into drawing up the routine, but I'm pleased with how it's looking," she said. "You don't get a lot of opportunities to do it in a competition, so this is really too good an opportunity to waste.

"I've been going through various elements of it in training.

"Some people opt to go for a really difficult routine and hope they nail it - others go a little bit easier to cut down the risk of an error. Which way have I gone? You'll just have to wait and see!"