ATHLETICS: 'Tempest' Lucy blows into Gladiators (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

ATHLETICS: 'Tempest' Lucy blows into Gladiators

5:55pm Tuesday 15th April 2008

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RECORD rainfall last summer and snow over Easter. Now Stanton St Quinton has been hit by a tempest.

Before the weather men get too excited, it is all the fault of Sky TV, who have resurrected the Gladiators format and will bring it back to our screens next month.

So international heptathlete Lucy Boggis, 19, who lives at home with her parents in this sleepy village, south of Malmesbury, will over the next few weeks metamorphose into a raging Tempest - her given name in the show.

It is a role which will almost certainly change her life and she is loving it.

Breaking off from a punishing 8am to 8pm training schedule at Shepperton Studios, Lucy told the Standard: "I'm just having so much fun. It's wicked."

And before anyone accuses Lucy of turning her back on athletics, she maintains her stint as a Gladiator will boost her chances of getting to the London Olympics in 2012.

Lucy admits she was obsessed' with the original Gladiators series which ran from 1992 to 2000 on terrestrial TV.

"The whole family used to sit together to watch it. I was obsessed," she said.

Now she has been chosen as one of the 12 new Gladiators who will take on 32 members of the public chasing a £50,000 prize to the outright winner.

Kirsty Gallacher and Ian Wright have taken over as hosts, but much of the successful formula remains the same.

Scottish referee John Anderson with his Gladiators, are you ready?' catchphrase is back, as are popular games like Hang Tough, Powerball and Gauntlet.

Rock music will again play an enormous part in revving up the studio audience inside the vast and elaborate sets at Shepperton.

Lucy said: "We don't know for sure, but I do hope Queen's Another One Bites The Dust' will be brought back.

"We were all asked to choose our own rock track and I am introduced to the crowd with my favourite - Woman' by Wolfmother.

"Some of the games may be familiar but they are all bigger and better than before."

Former Olympic silver-medal winning athlete Du'ane Ladejo is the most well-known of the new Gladiators, but most have strong sporting backgrounds, including Lucy, who was last year ranked Britain's fourth-best heptathlete.

"I was scouted back in March and in my first audition I earned full points. Only one other person in the country did that," she said.

The competitors have been holed up in the same hotel near Shepperton while they have been learning the punishing games.

"We're about to start three weeks of filming with two shows a day. The last show is shot on May 5 and series starts on Sky One the following day," said Lucy As the baby of the group, Lucy is sure to be a hit with fans, while the red-haired Inferno would be my bet as the likely baddie among the girls.

"I'm the wild, crazy one and I'm hoping to appeal to young girls and show them that you can live your dream," said Lucy.

There's another dimension, of course. Lucy's boyfriend Anthony Sawyer, who is himself preparing for the Winter Olympics in 2010 in the skeleton bob, had better watch his back as Lucy's Page 3' looks have already made her the darling of the tabloids.

"I've never considered myself a sex symbol but it is flattering," she said.

"I can't wait to be recognised in the street and to be asked to sign an autograph."

When her Gladiators filming is complete, she will happily return to full-time athletics.

The winner of three golds, a silver and a bronze at English Schools level, and the national javelin champion two years running, Lucy is now concentrating on the five disciplines of the heptathlon.

"I was still ranked No 4 in the country last year, although I have virtually had three years off with injury," she said. "There is lots of improvement to come.

"I had an operation on my ankle in November and I am getting stronger and fitter all the time. The Gladiators training has helped me strengthen up and I am desperate to get to the London Olympics in 2012.

"None of us know whether we will be chosen for the next series of Gladiators. I guess that all depends on how we do when it begins for real."

It has been a good year so far for the sporting family Boggis as Lucy's sister Charlotte has been picked for the England Women's A team at rugby and has regularly scored tries.

Who is the toughest of the pair? Lucy insisted: "Charlotte has done really well, but can she Hang Tough?"

Charlotte Boggis has been picked for the England Women's Thunder' team in the Super League rugby series which returns this Sunday at Heythrop Park in Oxfordshire.

SHARRON DAVIES, Commonwealth Gold medal-winning swimmer and former Gladiator, had a word of warning for new star Lucy Boggis - Take a bucket of Nurofen with you'.

Fairford resident Davies had her stay on the show as 'Amazon' cut short in 1995 when she snapped a cruciate ligament after an opponent fell on her.

"The schedule was brutal and one of the reasons why the original series finished was for health and safety concerns as the competitiors were picking up so many injuries," said Davies.

"As a successful sportswoman, Lucy will also have to remember that it is not just about winning.

"The producers don't want winning at all costs - it has got to be entertaining, a bit of a pantomime.

Davies will be part of the BBC presenting team at the Beijing Olympics in August.

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