Cricklade's Commonwealth Games triple medalist Laura Halford talks personal sacrifices and Olympic ambitions

Like any young girl, she was attracted by the chance to run around a room with ribbon in tail, without a single thought of the success that the sport could bring her in the future.

Fast forward 12 years. After hours of painstaking work and endless sacrifices, there are butterflies in her stomach as she is about to step out onto the floor at this summer’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow with the eyes of a nation now transfixed on what she does.

Gone are the days where she could just run around without a care in the world, speaking to Laura, her smile is infectious and she has a giggle that reminds you that she is still only 18.

“I was only six, but I remember it being fun. It was twirling a ribbon and that is any little girl’s dream, running around with a ribbon,” she said, sat next to an empty floor in Swindon’s Esprit Gym.

“I have had to put in so much hard work since I was eight and I got into the Welsh squad. Then when I was nine I got into the British squad and, from there, really it has not been for fun anymore - it has been really hard work.

“But I love doing it so it is not like I dread coming in because of the hard work. I enjoy doing it so I don’t mind.”

Laura began to get a taste for success when she was called up to the Welsh preparation squad.

It was something that she wanted to savour and the next year she was determined to take the next step into the development squad, but instead got put straight into the national squad.

That is when it hit home how far she could go in the sport.

However, that success came with its sacrifices and as she grew up she could not always enjoy the things a normal teenager would expect - although that did not leave a bitter taste in her mouth.

Instead, Laura showed a steely determination for the first time, that edge that any great athlete needs to become the best.

“I want to be the best so obviously I can’t just come in and hope I’ll be the best - you have to put in hours and hours of work in but I want to do that,” she said, still smiling.

“I’ve always been going away travelling for gym since I was eight, so I have always had to be disciplined and know I need to do my school work and catch up on that.

“Like if I am going away, I need to go to my teachers and get work, so I have always known that I can’t go out with my friends because I need to do my school work.

“My parents have always said to me that if I fall behind with work, then I will have to come out of gym.

“They said that more to me when I was younger because now I think gym is a bit more important for me, but I have always remained on top of my school work.

“I don’t find it that hard because it is all I have known since I was young, but sometimes, for example in year 11 I missed my prom because I was going to the British Championships.

“I didn’t regret that decision but when my friends were going to get their dresses and talking about how they were going to get there, it was hard. But I knew I wasn’t going to be the best if I missed training or competitions to go out with my friends.”

The hours of training and sacrifice came to a head in the summer when Laura was finally given the stage to show everyone what she had been working so hard on at the Commonwealth Games.

For an 18-year-old, you would forgive her for feeling the pressure and being weighed down by any expectation.

But with the Games in Glasgow, it meant she was well supported by not only her friends and family but everyone in the gymnasium on that Thursday evening in July and she knew she just had to do what had become second nature to her by now.

“It was just amazing to know all the hard work had paid off and that I was able to go and represent my country in such a huge event,” she said, struggling to hide a huge grin that came across her face.

“It was so hard before the Games. There were days I went to training and I was just like ‘oh my god, I think I am going to die’.

“My legs were aching, I was tired and I just wanted to go to sleep, but my teammate Frankie (Jones) was really helpful because she had done it twice before in Melbourne and Delhi.

“She was really motivating and was saying that if I wanted to be the best I just needed to get through the day and then when you do well, you know it would all have paid off and all be worth it.

“It was quite overwhelming I think because it was my first major competition, but I knew I was more prepared than I had ever been before.

“Although it was quite scary I just tried to think it was just like any other normal competition and I can’t do anything more now so I just need to go out and do what I have been doing in training.

“For my first routine I was really nervous, but then afterwards it was such a relief and then I got a bit more relaxed each time I went. But I really loved it there.

“The first day was the team event and we hadn’t seen anyone win a medal then.

“We didn’t really know what was going on we just wanted to focus on ourselves and when our score came up (and we won silver) we were all just delighted and we were all crying because we had been working so hard for it and for all the hard work to have paid off was just so nice.

“Winning my medals (two bronze in the individual all around and individual ball) and was amazing. I couldn’t believe it because, on the team day we all knew we had quite a strong chance because we had a strong team.

“But on the individual days, my goals were just to do well rather than just get a medal because I didn’t think it was very realistic for me because it was my first major competition.

“So for me to then to go and get a bronze medal was more than I could have ever imagined.”

Laura is not done there though. After claiming the highest-placed finish of any British gymnast in the World Championships last month, coming 44th, two places ahead of her Esprit teammate Stephani Sherlock, she has set her sights on climbing the world rankings and believes competing at the Olympics one day are not out of her reach.

“I can only learn from the World Championships now and I want to go up in the rankings,” she added.

“The standard in the World Championships is so high. The Russians, the Belarussians, the Ukrainians they just dominate the sport and it is really hard. I came 44th in the World Championships which is an improvement from the last time Great Britain sent anybody to the World Championships, which is already a big achievement for me.

“You have to be like top 24 for the Olympics. So for Rio I will probably be a bit too far away but maybe for the Olympics after that, if I keep building up my rankings I will be a bit closer and maybe that one will be more realistic.

“We don’t get any funding in this country, so if we want to go to competitions, even for Great Britain we have to pay for ourselves.

“I think that is where the other gymnasts have an advantage because they go to so many competitions they are more prepared and also the judges will start recognising them and know their names and that is how they kind of get boosted up.

“Hopefully because we had a good championships they’ll start sending us to more competitions and we’ll get more experience.”

With all of her success, you could forgive Laura if that had gone straight to her head given her young age.

But she still sees herself as that six-year-old running around with the ribbon, just at a slightly higher level.

She now hopes to inspire the next generation of Laura Halfords coming through Esprit Gym.

“It has been really good and it is nice to see lots of little ones coming through now,” she said with a group of students waiting patiently outside to use the room.

“After the Commonwealth Games, I didn’t even realise, I just think I am a normal person, but on my Instagram and my Twitter there are all these people saying you are my inspiration, you’re amazing, and I think that is what you are supposed to say to celebrities.

“I am just a normal person. It is really nice that young gymnasts see me in that way.”