Читать книгу Somersaults and Dreams: Going for Gold - Cate Shearwater - Страница 8

CHAPTER

Three

‘Vivian’s totally got it in for me,’ Ellie told Tam when they sat down for supper that night. At the heart of the National Sports Training Centre was a beautiful old honey-coloured mansion, which housed the dining hall and the dorms where the gymnasts slept during their week at camp. Surrounding this were a collection of state-of-the-art sports facilities, medical centres, and physio and rehab units. Beyond them were formal gardens and then sports pitches and training grounds for every sport under the sun.

Athletes and sportspeople from every discipline came here to train ahead of international events, but right now the centre was pretty empty; the only people there were the gymnasts who would be training there intensively for the next seven days – eating, sleeping and breathing gymnastics!

The food in the canteen was delicious, although Ellie found she had lost her appetite.

‘Maybe it’s not you she’s annoyed at,’ suggested Tam, who had definitely not lost his. He was tucking into a giant bowl of sticky toffee pudding as if he hadn’t eaten for days.

Tam had detached himself from the other Junior boys to come and join the girls from the Academy, who were all sitting together. Even the Senior squad girls Sian Edwards and Sophia Mitford had come to keep the younger girls company. Tam was the only boy from the Academy who’d qualified for GB squad this year. Olympic medallist Matt Simmons was out with an injury and Tam’s Academy squad mate Robbie had performed poorly at the British so missed out on selection. But this didn’t seem to bother Tam. He’d been coming to squad camps since he was a kid – this was his fifth time here, so he knew lots of the boys from other clubs. Ellie was glad he made time to see them during mealtimes.

‘I feel like I’ve done something to annoy Vivian,’ she said. ‘But I have no idea what!’

‘That’s not hard to work out,’ Tam went on, wiping toffee sauce off his chin with a shrug. ‘Everyone knows she and Lizzie were deadly rivals.’

‘Were they?’ said Ellie.

‘Ellie, sometimes I think you know nothing about gymnastic history at all!’ said Bella, shaking her head in disbelief.

‘You really don’t!’ Sian laughed. ‘It’s one of the most famous rivalries in gym history!’

‘Lizzie and Vivian were rivals?’ Ellie repeated. How did everyone else know this and not her?

‘Even I know this!’ said Katya, shaking her head as if reading her thoughts.

‘Oh,’ said Ellie. ‘Right.’

‘What do you actually know about Vivian Ponting?’ asked Sian gently. She might be an Olympic gold medallist, but kind Sian always had time for the younger gymnasts.

‘Not much,’ Ellie admitted.

‘OK, let’s start from the beginning,’ said Tam, grinning at Ellie. Things had been a bit weird between them earlier in the year. Robbie had teased Tam about being Ellie’s boyfriend and for a while they hadn’t really spoken. But now they were back to normal again, and Ellie was glad – she’d missed him and his sense of humour. ‘So, Vivian was known for her bubbly personality, OK?’

‘She was always chatting to the TV cameras mid-competition,’ agreed Kashvi. ‘High-fiving judges, disco dancing after a great score.’

‘Writing messages on her palm and holding them up on the podium,’ added Tam. ‘She was cool!’

Ellie tried to imagine it. Strict Vivian being funny and cool, and messing around? Wow!

‘But she was deadly serious as a competitor,’ said Sian. ‘Incredibly ambitious. She always said she wanted to get to the top, no matter what it took.’

‘There was only one thing standing in her way,’ said Kashvi. ‘And that was . . .’

‘Lizzie Trengilly!’ said Katya and Tam at exactly the same time.

‘I see,’ said Ellie. It was all starting to make sense now.

‘The reason Vivian Ponting has so many silver medals is because Lizzie beat her into second place in everything,’ explained Sian.

‘But she won Olympic gold,’ said Ellie.

‘The year Lizzie injured herself and had to pull out,’ Bella finished for her.

Ellie was silent for a moment, taking it all in. She’d spent hours, poring over pictures of Aunt Lizzie, but she’d never paid much attention to her competitors. But of course that’s why Vivian had looked familiar – she’d seen her dozens of times, standing on podiums next to Lizzie. Always on her left, the silver medal spot.

‘Vivian was a huge talent. In any other era she’d have been the greatest gymnast in the world,’ said Sian. ‘But because of Lizzie she was always the runner-up.’

Ellie glanced over to where Vivian was sitting with Barbara Steele and the boys’ coaches. She wondered how that had felt – always finding herself in second place. Never quite good enough to win the gold. Was she still mad about it? Was that why she disliked Ellie?

‘After Lizzie retired, Vivian kept competing for a bit, but she was never as good,’ said Sian, ruefully. ‘It was almost like . . . like she lost her edge when she stopped chasing Lizzie.’

‘I don’t think she ever won a major gold medal after that, did she?’ said Tam.

Sian shook her head. ‘She’s quite a lot older than your aunt,’ she said. ‘Lizzie was only eighteen when she retired, but Vivian was at least twenty-five by then. Other younger gymnasts came along and Vivian dropped down the ranks.’

‘She retired a couple of years after Lizzie’s injury,’ Bella added.

‘Vivian doesn’t like me because of my aunt!’ Ellie said with despair. What could she do to change that?

‘At least it makes a change from you getting the star treatment all the time,’ said Scarlett who was walking past arm in arm with the sweet, fluffy-haired Welsh girl, Phoebe. ‘If you live by the sword you die by the sword, I say!’

‘Which means what, exactly?’ demanded Tam.

‘Just that Ellie gets all the perks of the Trengilly name,’ said Scarlett. ‘So it’s only fair she should cope with the downsides too!’

‘Scarlett, Ellie’s got this far on her own talent,’ said Sian firmly. ‘Nothing to do with Lizzie. We all know that.’

‘Do we?’ said Scarlett sulkily. She looked as if she wanted to say more, but even she didn’t dare when Sian was there.

‘Yes, we do,’ said Sian firmly. ‘And I’m also sure that Vivian is far too professional to punish Ellie for her family connection.’

Kashvi looked doubtful. ‘She is being super mean to Ellie though.’

‘I expect she just wants to push you,’ said Sian, although even she didn’t sound completely convinced. ‘She does it to everyone.’

‘Well, I’m just saying I wouldn’t want to be training a relative of my deadly enemy,’ said Scarlett.

‘Lucky that most human beings are lot nicer than you then, isn’t it!’ muttered Tam as Scarlett turned away with a flick of her blonde mane, dragging a rather reluctant Phoebe along with her.

‘There’s nothing I can do about it,’ said Ellie. ‘It’s not like I can stop being Lizzie’s niece, can I?’

‘Just keep working on your own programme,’ said Sian. ‘She’ll see how great you are.’

Ellie sighed. At least now she knew the reason why Vivian seemed to have it in for her. She just didn’t know how to fix it!