Heptahlete Lucy Boggis is Gladiators' Tempest

Lucy Boggis, aka Tempest, combines a life as one of Britain’s leading heptathletes with that of a Gladiator. spikesmag.com spoke to the multi-eventer who believes life on the Sky1 entertainment show can help invigorate her track career.

Why did you start athletics?
LB: I’m always quite good at school. I did pretty much every sport and I just fell in love with it. I did every event I could and that’s how I got into multi-events from the age of about 11.

How did you get into Gladiators?
LB: When they called me up I’d been out injured for about nine months with an ankle injury. John Anderson [the former Gladiators referee] spoke to me because he had seen me at competitions before and asked me to come down to trials. I said, ‘I haven’t even started jogging on my foot yet’ and he said, ‘come down and see what you can do?’ I got full marks in the [physical] test and they liked my personality. I have had really bad luck with injuries since I started athletics and I had been struggling with them for so long. When they called me up for Gladiators it [the money I received for being on the show] meant I was pretty much able to fund myself in athletics. It was really good news.

Did appearing in Gladiators complement your athletics training?
LB: Yes, because I was undergoing the stopping and twisting and jumping without putting too much concussion on it like I would if I had been high jumping or long jumping. When I finished the series [filming took place from Nov 8 to Dec 10, 2008] and I started training again, I was pretty much in the best shape I’d ever been in. It is quite strange how much it complemented my body.

Has there been any particular Gladiators event which has been the most beneficial to your training?
LB: In training we do all of the events but the Pyramid, when you run all the way to the top on squishy foam really helps all the muscles and your fitness. Then the Hang Tough, the one which you are swinging around in the air, has really helped my arms and gave me a good body workout.

During the filming of the show did you do any specific athletics training?
LB: I was the crazy one who woke up at six every morning to do a running session on about 400m of grass outside the hotel and I would do my weights session on a evening. We would get to the studio and work out all day until about five and then after that I’d either do a weights session or, if I could fit it, I would go down to the track.

Do you think track and field athletes make the best Gladiators?
LB: Yes, they’ve got to. A lot of the Gladiators are athletes. I think that helps.

Do you like your Gladiators' moniker?
LB: I don’t mind it. I’ve never been given a nickname before, so I think I can count it as a nickname. When Shirley Webb [former international hammer thrower] was called Battleaxe I don’t think she was best pleased.

When competing in athletics are you known as Tempest?
LB: In an indoor competition some little kids were asking, ‘are you Tempest?’ But I can’t wait to be known more as an athlete than a Gladiator. All the girls I compete with normally take the mickey out of me. They kind of do my Tempest moves or try and bag me in front of people, which is really funny.

Winning a Gladiator event or setting a PB – what gives you the greater thrill?
LB: When I set a PB in say the javelin or the hurdles it is more of an achievement because you have been spending your whole life working on trying to achieve it.

You were ranked in the top ten in Great Britain last year what are your aims for the forthcoming season?
LB: My main aim is to be injury-free because I’ve never had a season without injury. It is all about the summer, I want to fit in as many heptathlons I can and hit the kind of score that reflects on my talent. This year I’m out to prove a point, which in the past I’ve never really been able to do. I want to score 5600-5800 this season. If I’m injury free I can definitely do that and then next season go for 6000 points.

Tell us about your 'Gladiator hair' – do you compete in heptathlon with it like that?
LB: To be honest, it’s not my real hair. I wish it was. They actually put extensions in my hair. Some people at Eton, where I train, know I’m Tempest but walking down the street I dress like a 13-year-old boy, so I don’t really get noticed and I never have make-up on or my hair done.

Gladiators – Sunday's at 6pm only on Sky1 HD and Sky1. www.sky.com/gladiators