When Mandy Lawford joined the athletics club her mum had belonged to in the 70’s, Mrs Lawford came out of retirement and started racing again. Soon Mandy felt under pressure to do as well as her mum and win everything.
Ellen Perkins’ sister, Violet, was fat, lazy and unpopular, until an athletes coach spotted her, and wanted to train her for throwing events in future Olympics. Ellen hoped to help turn her sister into an athlete.
Lucy Beane, who lived alone in her caravan, was a promising young athlete, who worked as a gardener for Lady Bardsley.
Gail Gordon’s ambition was to win a gold medal at the Olympic Games. But the problem was whether she should concentrate on running or swimming. Gail prefferred athletics, but she could not escape from Martha Moor, her ruthless swimming coach. Jim Cook, Gail’s athletic coach, was trying to rescue her from Martha’s evil clutches.
When Jenny Smith’s father falls ill while abroad, Mrs. Smith flies out to look after him, leaving the children in the care of their Aunt Ivy. Jenny is a keen athlete but finds it hard to train properly as Ivy refuses to look after the children when Jenny is not at school. So Jenny ends up having to take her younger siblings to training with her.
On returning home one evening, Helen and Mike Kirby discovered a girl lying on their doorstep. The girl could remember nothing of her past, not even her own name, but she proved that she was a fine athlete. The Kirbys called the girl Anne, and promised to look after her until she was claimed.
Heather Gray a junior member of the Merewood Athletic Club was hoping to wi
n the Young Athlete of the Year award. Then a strange cat named Sheba moved in with the family and made life very difficult fr Heather. Sheba the last descendant of the Sacred Cats of Egypt had chosen Heather as her handmaid – and Heather couldn’t refuse, as Sheba had mysterious powers to make people do what she wished.
The Paton twins had just moved to a new home in Bexley Park, about twenty miles from London. Jackie was a keen athlete, but Jill didn’t care for sport at all although she was a natural athlete.
Though both her parents were Olympic Champions, thirteen year old Kate did not excel at sports. So she was very surprised when she won a scholarship to Olympus Academy, a school which aimed to turn out super athletes with the help of machines. It turns out she was chosen due to an error, but the other girls in the academy wanted Kate to stay, because while she wasn’t a great athlete, she was a talented cook.
