Henrietta!

First impression can be misleading, as they were with Henrietta when she competed at Wembley back in 1986. Aged 12, she won the overall bronze medal in the Kraft International, but one observer reckoned she was "visually uninspiring".

A few years later she took part in her first senior European Championships, in Brussels in 1989. All eyes were on the superstars, Svetlana Boguinskaya and Daniela Silivas. Then the people began to notice Henrietta, whirling through a series of brilliant routines to finish fifth overall. She qualified for all four apparatus finals, looking surprised and delighted to win the gold medal on bars.

Henrietta also took a bronze medal on floor, showing one of the best triple-twists ever seen. She was expected to do very well at the World Championships later that year, but sometimes Henrietta finds the pressure of big competitions a bit overwhelming. She only finished 19th overall, qualifying for just one final, the beam - but no medal.

Things got a bit better after that. At the DTB Cup in Germany at the end of 1989, Henrietta became overall champion, proving that she could win overall events, even if they weren't major championships. What is more, it was a title she would win again the following year.

1990 brought more success for the now hugely popular Henrietta. At the European Championships in Athens, she won the overall bronze medal, behind Soviets Boguinskaya and Kalinina. She lost out on the silver medal by just 0.001 of a point! After, she said: "I had expected to place in the top three, and I'm very pleased that I did. However it's worth noting that the difference between second and third is minuscule." [More on this: Henrietta's AA score at the 1990 Europeans]

Later that year, Henrietta returned to Brussels for the World Cup. Her many fans in Belgium cheered loudly after each of her routines, and were delighted when she took the overall bronze medal behind Lysenko and Boguinskaya. Then in the apparatus finals, she won a gold medal on vault, a silver on floor and a bronze on bars - totalling more medals than all her rivals.

If 1990 was a good year, then 1991 was a bit of a disaster. That September she went to Indianapolis for the World Championships. As in Stuttgart, she seemed to lose her nerve, because poor little Henrietta did not have a good time.

She started well enough. After the team event she was the sixth-placed individual. But in her very first routine of the all-around final, the bars, everyone was shocked when she lost momentum, and had to muddle through for a score of 8.875.

Worse was to come. She fluffed her beam routine too, and ended up way down in 31st position. Still, she had qualified for all four apparatus finals - surely she could make up for her disappointment then?

Well, she sort of did, winning the vault silver medal but missing out on bars. Then on beam she appeared to have forgotten her routine, looking a bit confused. She scored 9.60. Finally, floor, usually one of her best events. Unfortunately she ended up flat on her face, not once, but twice. Tired and emotional, she cried her eyes out in the arms of her coach.

She recovered at the post-championship party; however. At first looking uncomfortable in her official team outfit of smart skirt, jacket and court shoes, she livened up later, changing into dungarees and trainers. She spent most of the evening dancing with her teammates to some rather funky tunes a local DJ was spinning.

It was a much more relaxed Henrietta who competed at the World Championships in 1992. Having won the 1991 Chunichi Cup in Japan, her confidence was restored, and she won the gold on vault and the silver on floor in Paris. She repeated this success later at the Barcelona Olympics.

Now aged 18, Henrietta is planning her future. It is uncertain whether she will be at the Birmingham World Championships, but there is every possibility she will keep doing gymnastics, either at top level or just for fun. Whatever she does, she is certain to have admirers wherever she goes!

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