Читать книгу Somersaults and Dreams: Going for Gold - Cate Shearwater - Страница 11

CHAPTER

Six

‘We figured it out,’ said Lucy when Ellie Skyped them again that evening. Lucy, who was crazy about gymnastics, had made Ellie and Katya promise to give her daily National squad camp updates. Ellie didn’t mind – she always loved hearing what was going on back home in Cornwall in exchange.

‘Yup, we know why Vivian’s being so mean to you!’ said Nancy. Her freckled face was looking brown as a nut and she was grinning happily out of the screen, like she’d just solved a big mystery.

‘We know!’ said Ellie. ‘She didn’t like Aunt Lizzie!’

‘No, it’s more than that,’ said Lucy. ‘She’s stopping you trying the hard stuff, right?’

‘Yes,’ Ellie admitted. ‘I don’t even care about her being harsh but I just feel like she’s deliberately holding me back – especially on vault.’

‘And that completely makes sense,’ said Nancy, triumphantly.

‘Um – why?’ said Ellie. ‘Explain.’

‘So we’ve been reading all about her in this biography,’ Lucy held up a copy of a book. It was called Silver Linings – an Unauthorised Biography of Vivian Ponting, and it had a picture of a young Vivian on the front, her face screwed up in concentration as she sailed over the vault.

‘Wow!’ said Katya, who was sitting in the splits on the floor as if it was the most natural position in the world. ‘Lucy, you are doing detective work!’ she squeaked, grinning at her pal who smiled back happily.

‘Lizzie was beating Vivian in every competition,’ said Lucy. ‘So when it came to World Champs, Vivian decided she needed to do something drastic to beat her.’

‘What did she do?’ asked Katya, who had levered herself up into an elephant lift and was talking to the screen from her upside-down position.

‘That’s when she decided to attempt the Produnova vault,’ said Nancy.

‘Whoa!’ said Tam. He appeared in the doorway and flung himself down on the bed. He was now a regular feature in the girls’ dorms, which he had announced were far more comfortable – and less smelly – than the boys’. Some of the Junior squad boys had started calling him a ladies’ man, but Ellie figured his visits had more to do with their cake! ‘Sorry I’m late – what did I miss?’

‘Just shut up and listen!’ said Nancy, although Ellie saw her grin, and knew she was pleased to see him really.

‘Love you too, big sis!’ said Tam, blowing her a mock kiss.

‘Yuk,’ said Nancy, pretending to wipe it off her chin. ‘Now where was I?’

‘The Produnova.’

‘Oh, yes,’ said Nancy. She boomed out in a dramatic voice over. ‘Everyone knows that the Produnova is the most difficult vault there is!’

‘And fiendishly dangerous!’ Lucy chipped in, not quite getting her voice right and giggling. ‘But Vivian knew it would give her such a high difficulty value that Lizzie would struggle to beat it – if she could nail it.’

‘I think I remember reading something about this,’ said Tam, who was now munching on a stash of muffins he’d found in Ellie’s suitcase. The fact that they’d eaten a giant meal less than half an hour earlier didn’t seem to make any difference to him; as usual, he was already starving. ‘It was a massive controversy in the end – right?’

‘What happened?’ asked Ellie. She knew her aunt had won gold at World Champs.

‘Well, Vivian did the Produnova,’ said Lucy. ‘But she stumbled in her landing, so she lost execution points.’

‘Which meant that she and Lizzie ended up with exactly the same all-around score,’ said Nancy.

‘Exactly the same?’ said Ellie.

‘That is very unusual,’ said Katya, who was now the right way up again.

‘Completely!’ said Nancy. ‘It hardly ever happens, and it was a massive deal – it meant a tie for gold medal at World Champs.’

‘So they shared gold medal?’ asked Katya.

‘Nope!’ said Nancy. ‘Lizzie got it.’

‘Of course,’ said Tam. ‘Lizzie won, because execution score trumps difficulty value score, right?’

‘Right,’ said Nancy. ‘Even though their total was the same, the judges awarded the gold to Lizzie.’

‘So the difficulty of Vivian’s Produnova vault didn’t help?’ said Ellie, trying to figure out exactly what this meant. ‘She still came second.’

‘And that’s why she won’t let you try difficult vaults!’ said Lucy.

‘She’s punishing you for what Lizzie did to her all those years ago,’ added Nancy.

Ellie felt dismayed. She recalled Vivian’s refusal to let Ellie even try another vault, her constant nit-picking of Ellie’s technique.

‘You two are like Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson, aren’t you?’ said Tam, who had just polished off his third muffin. ‘Super gym-sleuths in search of the truth!’

‘We had to work out what Vivian is doing. We can’t let her ruin Ellie’s chances cos of some ancient grudge against Lizzie!’ said Nancy.

‘So, what can I do?’ said Ellie.

‘I’ve got an idea,’ said Tam.