Gymnastics: Raising the bar

Now it is Regan who hopes to shine in front of a home crowd next summer. Her journey to the 2014 Commonwealth Games will begin in earnest at the Scottish Artistic Gymnastics Championships next weekend. The event, being held in Perth, marks the first opport- unity for Scotland's gymnasts to gain the qualification standard for Glasgow.

Scottish senior all-around champ-ion for the last three years, Regan will undoubtedly have an eye on making it four-in-a-row. The 18-year-old has already shown good form, finishing third on vault at the British Championships in March, but she is determined not to get too far ahead of herself.

"Obviously each time you win, you wonder if you can do it again, but I tend not to think of the final outcome, I simply focus on doing the best I can," says Regan. "I find that if I let myself over-think it too much that is never a good thing.

"I would rather I went out and did all of my routines clean, than thinking about winning. I need to focus on what I can control – rather than other outside influences I can't."

Giffnock-based Regan competed in Delhi in 2010, finishing fourth on floor.

"I simply went to gain experience, so when I qualified eighth to make the floor final it felt like a great achievement," she says. "But to move up four places in the final and then come so close to a medal I obviously felt gutted, but proud too. It was bitter-sweet. I was happy and sad at the same time."

Her photograph features on the official Glasgow 2014 website.

"I only found out recently when a friend told me," she laughs. "It's pretty cool. Sometimes I'll see it and think: 'Oh, that's me.'

"I would love to make the floor and vault finals in Glasgow. The goal would be to get a medal – I don't care what colour it is. To do that in a home games would be the dream.

"The crowd in Delhi went crazy whenever any of the Indian gymnasts was competing.

"It was amazing, just this incredible atmosphere and the way they got behind their athletes, it definitely helped lift the competitors. I rem-ember thinking: 'Wow, imagine having that support at a home games'. I can't wait to experi- ence it."

Regan started gymnastics aged three after tagging along to lessons with her elder sister Shona, who now assists alongside her main coach, Sandy Richardson, at City of Glasgow Gymnastics Club.

She grew up watching Beth Tweddle and cites the United States' Olympic all-around silver medallist Shawn Johnson – like Regan, a real powerhouse of a gymnast – among her sporting heroes.

The longevity of former Soviet gymnast Oksana Chusovitina, now representing Germany and still competing at 37, is another who Regan admires.

"Beth is an amazing role-model and someone I look up to," she says. "Shawn is retired now but her presence and unwavering focus was amazing. It's great to see someone like Oksana compete into her 30s. I would love to have as long a gymnastics career as she has."

Regan trains 26 to 28 hours a week, admitting to a few bumps and bruises along the way. Warming up for the vault final in the British Championships two years ago, she landed awkwardly, chipping a bone in her ankle.

"That took a bit of time to come back from," she says. "But I'm pretty fortunate. There has been nothing major."

Away from the gym Regan unwinds with clothes shopping and endeavours to spend any spare moments with her family.

"Choosing to do gymnastics has meant making huge sacrifices," she says. "I had a reduced timetable at school, so I missed a lot of the social aspect of that and things like friend's birthday parties."

There will be eight competitions affording the chance of Commonwealth Games qualification before next summer and Scotland's gymnasts will be keen to get their campaign off to a good start on Saturday.

"Everyone is a threat," says Regan. "We are all chasing the same goal so everyone is going to be on top of their game. I think it will be a good competition."