Sarah, 46, London
‘I had no idea, aged 14, that I was being groomed’ Growing up, I was sports mad, into netball, hockey and athletics - but the 1500m was my speciality.
I raced for my school in southeast London, and at county level.
Then, one day in 1984, when I was 14, supply teacher Cyril Carter, then 36, was taking one of my classes.
‘I’ve seen you running on the track,’ he said, smiling.
He chatted to me and other students about sport. But he soon singled me out.
‘Do you enjoy sport?’ Mr Carter asked.
‘Yes,’ I grinned, telling him I dreamed of competing for my country.
Mr Carter was a regular substitute teacher at my school.
‘I coach Olympic athletes,’ he told me.
He’d coached the British…
