After the glory, what Lizzy did next


It’s doubtful that anyone in Kent – indeed, the UK – doesn’t know the name Lizzy Yarnold, MBE.


Yet, only a few years ago, the former Maidstone schoolgirl was just that: a teenage sporting enthusiast with her eye on a career in green energy.


Since winning Britain’s only gold medal at the Winter Olympics in Sochi and being made an ambassador for Girls4Gold, Lizzy’s feet – and the rest of her body – have hardly touched the ground and in June, she was made MBE. When she’s not trying to keep up her strict training


regime, Lizzy is in demand all over the UK, as a sporting ambassador, speaking to schools and youth groups, a motivational speaker – even a quiz show contestant. But Lizzy (25) remains resolute that she is primarily an


athlete – not a celebrity. She said: “I go into schools as an athlete and speak to the students as an athlete. I want people to associate with me as a normal person, who went to school, as they do, and went on to achieve great things.” For the schoolgirl born in Maidstone Hospital and raised in


West Kingsdown, the signs of those great things were evident from an early age. While still at St Michael’s Prep School in Otford, the young


Lizzy realised she had a drive and ambition – not to mention talent – that surpassed those of her peers. Lizzy said: “Like most children, I desperately wanted to be


good at singing and performing. I always wanted to be the lead in the school plays – but realised very quickly that I wasn’t that good, whereas I was gifted in sport. “I was consistently chosen to be in the first team and


consequently tried out lots of different sports and found I was able to easily pick them up.” Lizzy was selected to compete for Kent Prep Schools in


athletics when she was 11 and joined Maidstone, Tonbridge and Ashford Athletics Clubs at the age of 13.


She said: “I guess I realised I was different to the other


children as I was the only one to turn up for events with my own spikes when everyone else was competing in trainers.” As a teenager, Lizzy looked for inspiration to Kelly Holmes


– who had just achieved her double Olympic gold, in 2004. More recently, it was 2006 skeleton silver medal winner


Shelley Rudman. “Just as Kelly and Shelley were an inspiration to me, I


hope I can be an inspiration to others,” she said. As a student – and eventually head student – at Maidstone


Girls Grammar School, Lizzy found the 3.30pm end to the school day enabled her to train virtually every night.


“I always pushed myself to do more and realised I was capable of doing more”


With easy access to trains and public transport to get her


around the various athletics clubs, Lizzy would train, often until 9pm, before going home to tackle her school work. “Sometimes it would be 1am before I would get to bed –


and then, as head student, realise I had a speech to make or other duties to perform and hadn’t done any preparation,” she confessed. “It was a great learning curve. I remember making lots of


speeches, often straight off the cuff – you just have to get on with it – and then thinking ‘phew – that won’t be so bad next time’. “I was constantly challenging myself, even then.” At the age of 18, when Lizzy went to the University of


Gloucestershire, she had no intention of becoming a professional athlete. “I did sports science – because I enjoyed it – and


geography and it was my plan to work in the field of green, or renewable energy. “While I thought it would be nice to be a full-time athlete,


I knew how difficult it was.” However, when Lizzy was discovered by the UK talent


search scheme (Girls4Gold) in 2010, her life was to take an unexpected turn – and one from which she has never looked back. The selection tests, which include both physical and mental agility, are devised to identify those with ‘star’


6 Mid Kent Living


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