Sharp's inspiration

Lynsey Sharp :Is inspired by the achievements of her father

Scotland's Lynsey Sharp will be inspired by the achievements of her father, both on and off the track, when she attempts to follow in his Olympic footsteps on Thursday.

Cameron Sharp reached the semi-finals of the 1980 Moscow Olympics in both the 100 and 200 metres, finished fourth in the 4x100m relay as well as claiming a European silver medal in Athens in 1982.

However, the 54-year-old regards getting out of a wheelchair and learning to walk again unaided to be a greater achievement than anything he accomplished on the track, after a car accident in 1991 which left him battling to recuperate from physical and mental disabilities.

The accident occurred when his daughter Lynsey was just a year old, meaning that she has had to rely on old videos or clips on YouTube to see her father in action.

However, the 21-year-old is now targeting some video highlights of her own by sealing qualification for the 800m at the London Olympics, in the same stadium in Helsinki where her father reached the semi-finals of the 1983 World Championship.

Advice

Sharp, who was a surprise winner at the Olympic trials and now needs to run the 'A' standard of one minute 59.90 seconds here to guarantee her place in the team, said: "I'm really lucky that both my parents have been involved in the sport. Their advice has been invaluable.

"I raced in Moscow this year and my dad raced in the same stadium at the Olympics. He was so excited by that. We were talking about the call-room which was all marble and chandeliers.

"He does talk about his career if you ask him about it. I'm careful because if I ask him about it a lot I don't want him to dwell on the fact he's in the position he's in.

"But he's more than happy to tell a story to me if I say where I'm going or what I'm doing. He said the Olympics is like no other competition and especially at home. It's already crazy.

"He's had tough times but more at the start of it when I was young. He's done so well to get back to walking and he's got an independent life now. He still used the wheelchair occasionally until I was 13. Now he has no stick, nothing. He walks unaided to the gym and Tesco and we have to tell him to calm down.

"I had an injury in 2009 and didn't race for whole year. But I thought, 'Come on, if he can come back from that sort of accident and be so mentally strong to get through it then I can do this'."

Cameron was not in Birmingham to watch his daughter's victory on Saturday, but Lynsey said: "He watched on TV. My sister phoned him afterwards and said, 'Did you watch it?' He said, 'Yes, I had a tear in my eye' and he's the most unemotional person ever!"

Confidence

Sharp is not the only athlete chasing an Olympic 800m place in Helsinki, as Jemma Simpson also needs the qualifying time after finishing second in the trials.

A knee injury earlier this year also cost Sharp six weeks of training. However, the memory of running her personal best of two mins 00.65secs when winning bronze at the European Under-23 Championships last year gives her confidence ahead of the semi-finals.

Sharp, who graduated with a law degree just a few days before the trials, the choice of subject prompted by her father's successful medical negligence case following his accident, said: "I ran my PB in a championship race when I was not thinking about times, I was just thinking about the medal I wanted.

"That's what I'll do this week. I just want to make the final, which will be hard enough in itself, and get as high a position as I can. I don't want to chase the time because if I do well in the final then it will come.

"I'm trying not to think this is my last chance. If someone told me a year ago that I would be this close to the Olympics having won the trials then I would have laughed. I feel really fortunate that everything has gone as well as it has.

"I am still young. If it was my last chance for an Olympics or at the end of my career I'd be chasing the time more. I'm happy to keep progressing naturally."