Ask Jane Allen. She knows all about it. And British Gymnastics knows she knows all about it, which is one of the reasons why it has appointed her as its own chief executive with the 2012 Games looming on the horizon.

Two years before Sydney hosted the 2000 Olympics, Allen - who will be monitoring the second week of the European Championships in Birmingham after the British men’s medal flourishes at senior and junior level - was established as chief executive of Gymnastics Australia and witnessed at close quarters the peculiar stresses which come to bear upon athletes having to deal with the suffocating weight of goodwill from a home Olympic crowd.

"Until you’ve been there, you don’t know what the weight of expectation does to athletes and their performances," Allen says. "We had a very, very good Australian women’s team at the 2000 Games, but they didn’t achieve at the level they should have done.

"We thought we would make the team final, but we didn’t. It was not a case of not having the talent, but we didn’t deal adequately with the psychological demands of a home Games.

"If we had had the chance to do it again, we might have paid a bit more attention to that element. We weren’t aware it was going to have such a psychological effect on the girls when they came out into a stadium full of 15,000 screaming Australians.

"You have to be prepared for that kind of environment, because if you’re not it hits you like a wave.

"From 2000 onwards, we certainly learned from that and got stronger in terms of our women’s performances. But I think taking part in last year’s world championships on home territory, in the 02 arena where the London 2012 Olympics will be held, and in front of sell-out crowds, will be of huge benefit to British gymnasts.

"The younger gymnasts would have got enormous experience of the kind of thing they can look forward to in 2012. And even more experienced performers such as Beth Tweddle gained from it. After having her fall in the uneven bars, she did exceptionally well to come back and get gold in the floor exercises."

That learning experience has already been replicated in the National Indoor Arena in the space of the last week as Britain’s world all-around silver medallist Daniel Keatings (pictured) made a mistake on the pommel horse - albeit not big enough to prevent Britain earning the team silver - but then returned to the arena two days later to claim the European title, with training partner and Olympic bronze medallist Louis Smith taking individual silver behind him.

Tweddle, meanwhile, very much concurs with her new CEO, insisting that competing on home territory can benefit experienced and relatively inexperienced athletes alike.

"It was definitely a great opportunity for British gymnasts to have the worlds in London last year," she says. "That was the idea when the bid for the worlds and the European championships were being put in - to give the youngsters who are eligible the opportunity to experience a big home crowd.

"Because it can be a bit daunting to walk out into an arena and have everyone screaming our name, whereas normally you go to an international and it’s kind of just your parents - you don’t have all your friends and family there.

"So in that sense it’s a great opportunity for the younger ones, but I also learnt quite a lot from it.

"Whether the mistakes I made in the bars were down to the fact that it was so pressurised because of the home crowd or whether it was just a bad day at the office we’ll never know.

"But I was able to reflect on what happened and take the key into the floor final. Everyone always expecting me to medal on bars. The floor was never really supposed to be the game plan. I knew I could make the final but I never would have dreamt of coming away with the world title.

"Tweddle, who made her big breakthrough in 2006 by winning the European uneven bars title a few months before becoming world champion, says that some people she talks to ask what the motivation is to get another European title.

"I still enjoy it and want to produce the best results I can," she says. "And obviously the Europeans are a stepping stone for the world championships at the end of the year and the Olympics in 2012.

"I hope to go out and do the best routine I can and if that means medals I’ll definitely be pleased. But if not, I’ve still got two years to work on the long-term goal."

Ah yes. That long-term goal. How does she deal with something that looms over everything at the moment and yet is still not within touching distance?

"With the Olympics being at home, everyone talks about it and forgets I have three Europeans and two World Championships prior to the Games. They ask me: ‘Are you going for it now?’

"You have to just put London 2012 to the back of your mind and take each step as it comes. We’ve got to qualify as a team first – that starts at this year’s World Championships, so we can qualify for next year’s world championships, where we can then qualify for the Olympics.

"It’s such a long road to the Olympics, but in a way by having the Europeans and the worlds it breaks it down into shorter distances. So actually works out better for ourselves. Every six months I have a major. Every six months is a short-term goal leadin up to the long-term goal."



While the efforts of the junior and senior men have been making the headlines in the past week, gymnastics suddenly seems to be reaching the public eye more. But as Tweddle (pictured) points out, this has not been a sudden process.

"Good gymnastics results don’t appear overnight," she says. "The Lottery funding and new coaching attitudes started about 10 years ago, and it takes five, seven, 10 years for the results to come through.

"The likes of Daniel and Louis were spotted as youngsters and brought through the system and are now starting to produce results as well. There’s been a lot of hard work over the last 10 years and it’s now starting to pay off."

For Allen, it seems, there are only potential gains.

"We’ve seen a fantastic improvement in British gymnastics recently," Allen says. "Clearly both the men’s and the women’s programmes are working well, and the main Olympic budgets have already been set.

"From my point of view it will be about bringing my experience and some new ideas to bear which will help British Gymnastics continue to thrive. It’s always helpful to have different eyes on things."

This week, however, those Australian eyes will be focussing on the rest of the action in the National Indoor Arena as Britain’s women try to match the success already achieved by their male counterparts. Good times, good times indeed.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]

Mike Rowbottom, one of Britain's most talented sportswriters, has covered the last five Summer and four Winter Olympics for The Independent. Previously he has worked for the Daily Mail, The Times, The Observer, the Sunday Correspondent and The Guardian. He is now chief feature writer for insidethegames