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JENNY Meadows has always been fast - as a three-year-old, her father used to marvel at the way she would run rings around children twice her age.
At school, she always won sports day – despite desperate pleas from class-mates "to let them win one" – and now, aged 25, she is one of Great Britain's finest athletes.
But to say success on the track has come easy to her does not do justice to the sacrifices she has made in the 18 years since she first persuaded her mum to let her join Wigan Harriers.
"I remember bringing home a leaflet from school inviting children to a new primary group," revealed the unassuming Jenny. "I was so excited, but my mum wouldn't let me go.
"She ran for Harriers until she was 19 and fell out with the sport, vowing never go to an athletics track again – she was just being protective because she knew what a cruel sport it can be.
"I begged her and in the end an aunt took me and when I kept it up, my mum came along and she has been incredibly supportive ever since."
That initial primary group produced three future internationals: Jenny, the British record high jumper Susan Jones (now Moncrieff) and Rachel Kay.
Aged 11, Jenny's interest in athletics was fuelled by the success of fellow Harrier David Grindley, who became the sport's golden boy after smashing the British 400m record when he was 19 and went on to win bronze at the Barcelona Olympics. An achilles injury forced him to retire at the tender age of 23.
"I remember seeing David training one week and the next he's on TV and all over the papers," she says. "It was a massive deal. It's frightening to think of how good he would have been.
"Michael Johnson's coach, Clyde Hart, once said the only athlete in the world who Michael feared was David Grindley."
David, who is now a pilot, was recently an usher at Jenny's wedding to her coach, Trevor Painter. "He did a good job," she smiled, her softly-spoken demeanour masking her strong competitive streak. "He's been friends with Trevor for years, and he still gets recognised now."
As a Deanery student, Jenny used to have to catch two buses to get from her Abram home to Robin Park, and make the same return trip. Four times a week.
The work paid off, as she became county champion aged 13 and English schools' champion two years later. Further accolades followed as she got older.
She was "chuffed to bits" when Paula Radcliffe wrote in a newspaper article about being "excited by Jenny Meadows".
But it never stopped becoming a balancing act.
As she got older, she combined her studies at Liverpool University with her training and, even now, despite being ranked an impressive 24th in the world at the 800m, she has to work part-time as a coach for Manchester City Council.
"I understand why people drop out of it because it's a huge commitment," she says. "My parents encouraged me to go out with my friends, but I was – and still am – always the nominated driver!
"It never really hit me that I could do something with athletics because it was a gradual progression. It was only when I was 19, when I won gold at the World Junior Championships (in Chile, at the 400m relay) that it hit me and I thought, 'I could make a career out of it'."
She soon discovered, though, that what her career path offered in opportunities it lacked in riches. This year, she received medical support but not a penny in Sport England funding, and it is an issue that – not surprisingly – grates with her.
"The other day the Chelsea players were down at Sport City, they trained from 11 til one and then went for a paid-for lunch at their five star hotel," she said. "I thought, 'How lucky are they?' I understand that if they get so many people watching them they deserve to be paid well, but it still frustrates me.
"Girls who run my times in America or Australia are full-time athletes – and then when the Olympics roll around, people wonder why British athletics is not like it used to be!"
In her early 20s, Jenny enjoyed success with the national 400m relay team, winning silver at the Manchester Commonwealth Games and finishing fourth at the world championships. But illness ruined her 2004 season – and ended hopes of an Athens Olympics call – so, after discussions with Trevor, she decided to switch events to the 800m to help her shake off the tag as "a good little relay runner".
The diminutive star ("I'm five foot one and three-quarters – and don't forget the three quarters!") knocked two seconds off her personal best earlier this year, recording a time of 2:00.16 which puts her sixth in the country at a time when competition at 800m has never been so fierce.
Jenny, who has retained her maiden name until she retires because of "superstition", is determined to break the mythical two-minute barrier that would thrust her from being an international to a genuine medal-contender ahead of the Beijing Olympics in 2008. "The Games is definitely a big aim, it's always been a dream to go to the Olympics and do well," she says.
Maybe then, she would receive the money – and recognition – that her talent surely merits.
"Occasionally someone will come up to me and say, 'Are you Jenny Meadows?', which is nice," she says, before breaking into laughter and adding. "But then it's usually followed by them asking, 'Whatever happened to that David Grindley fella?'"
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Weather for Wigan
Tuesday 07 February 2012
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