IT has been an eventful 18 months for Daniel Purvis.
After the elation felt during a stellar 2012 - when he won a historic Olympic team bronze, team gold at the European Championships and a third consecutive British senior all-around title - this year has been disappointing as he suffered a dip in form.
In March at the British Champion- ships in Liverpool, a series of uncharacteristic errors saw the Scottish gymnast having to settle for silver after conceding the all-around title to Max Whitlock.
His problems continued in the individual apparatus competition where he could only manage a bronze on pommel horse and a month later, at the European Champ- ionships, his performance was below that of his usual standard.
For Purvis, it was a vital lesson in the importance of balance - and not in a typical gymnastics sense.
"After the Olympics, I perhaps didn't get the rest I should have," he said. "I went straight into the World Cup events which although they went well, didn't give me enough time to make any real changes to my routines. I was happy to come second but disappointed in losing my British title."
But that, he said, was now water under the bridge and the 22-year-old has made a concerted effort over the summer to get back on an even keel.
"I now feel much more like I did going into the Olympics," Purvis said. "I had a decent break after the European Championships and I've now had time to work properly on my routines, making those better and more secure. There's a few new elements in there including some I never thought I'd do, so I'm feeling pretty good about that.
"The routines I had before would still get high scores, but you need to keep progressing otherwise you feel stuck in a rut. I think it's good to keep striving - that's always been my main aim in gymnastics. I've established myself at a high level but I want to go even higher. It's important to keep challenging myself."
Purvis is due to compete at the London Open which begins on Friday, his first opportunity to gain the 2014 Commonwealth Games qualification standard, before turning his focus to the World Championships in Antwerp, Belgium, at the end of the month.
Although born in Liverpool and brought up in Merseyside, his mother Denise hails from Dundee and Purvis has previously represented Scotland at the Northern European Gymnastics Championships.
He hopes to do likewise at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, which is good news for the host nation since he is among the top-ranked, all-around gymnasts in the world.
It is his belief that the pressure cooker environment he experienced at the 2012 Olympic Games will stand him in good stead.
"London was the most nerve-wracking competition ever and the atmosphere was unbelievable," he said. "I'm looking forward to Glasgow. It will be my first Commonwealth Games and I think it will be amazing. The standard of competition will be high and, while the pressure perhaps won't be on the same scale as London, I want to do my best in front of a home crowd.
"Whenever I've competed in Glasgow the crowd has been fantastic at showing their support. At the World Cup in December, I made a mistake on the floor but they got right behind me and I ended up doing well enough to finish in the top three."
He may have stood shoulder-to-shoulder on the Olympic podium with Louis Smith, Max Whitlock, Kristian Thomas and Sam Oldham last summer, but in Glasgow they will be on opposing sides with the quartet poised to compete for England. It is a thought which prompts a laugh from Purvis.
"It will be great to compete against each other," he said. "England will be the favourites, but we will definitely give them a run for their money. The goal will be to get a team medal for Scotland."
Asked what colour he hopes that will be, he said: "I reckon there is a good shot of gold. Anything is possible on the day and gold is definitely on the table."
Britain's most decorated gymnast, Beth Tweddle, announced her retirement last month and Purvis would love to emulate her success.
"Beth is someone who can look back on her career and have no regrets," he said. "She did far more in the sport than I think even she expected. It's always fantastic to hear of someone retiring when they have achieved everything they wanted to. That's every sports-person's dream, to leave on a high note rather than dwelling on what-ifs."
Since his Olympic success, Purvis' presence has lead to an impressive increase in members at Southport YMCA where he trains. "I've seen it at my gym but Beth has done it all over the country and across the world," he said. "It would be amazing to one day be an icon like her. That's a big goal of mine."
Purvis, who is coached by Jeff Brookes at Southport YMCA and Andrei Popov at the British Gymnastics HQ in Lilleshall, is hoping that over the coming months his Scottish team-mates will join him and Daniel Keatings for training camps and that they will reciprocate and travel north of the border.
"I'm looking forward to getting to know all of the guys ahead of next summer," he said. "I think we've got a strong Scottish team with myself, Dan Keatings and Adam Cox back from retirement, as well as some real depth from the young guys coming up through the ranks."
But before Glasgow 2014 there is the small matter of reclaiming his British crown next spring. "It would be great to be No 1 all-rounder again," he said. "The way things are going I think I have every possibility of doing that."
So Whitlock shouldn't get too comfortable? "To win it back - that's what I'll be hoping to do."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article