Claudia Fragapane's remarkable rise - four Gold medals

by Aimee Lewis BBC Sport in Glasgow

COMMONWEALTH GAMES: The agents have already started circling. Life may never be the same for Claudia Fragapane.

But that is what happens when you become the first Englishwoman for 84 years to win four gold medals at a single Commonwealth Games.

When you do so in the manner of a stylish avant-gardist, and all at the tender age of 16, it is little wonder steely agents are giddily making calls in the hope of adding you to their client list.

To understand why a schoolgirl - whose previous career-high was sixth in the vault and eighth on the floor at the recent European Championships team event - has become such an asset, it is important to rewind to Wednesday night and a never-to-be-forgotten evening at a soup bowl of a Glaswegian amphitheatre.

For those among the capacity crowd at the Hydro for the floor event in the all-around competition, or even watched on television, it was a performance that will live long in the memory: 90 seconds of vertigo-inducing somersaults, breakdancing, body popping and brilliant tumbles ven those inexpert in gymnastics raised their eyebrows and shuffled forward in their seats as they watched a 4ft 5in frame dazzle with flips and twists - or a double straight back somersault with a full twist, to use proper terminology.

First British woman to do so

No other British female gymnast had ever performed the move.

Spectators watched open mouthd.

She spun on her back and flipped onto her knees, electrifying the arena with moves more often associated with street dancers than English gymnasts.

She launched herself to heights her rivals could not manage and, when the dancing was over, when the smiling, wide-eyed unknown gymnast lifted her arms skywards, the crowd rose to their feet in joyous approval.

The judges were admirers too, awarding Fragapane 14.733 points to propel her to the top of the leaderboard. Gold was hers.

Fragapane was now the Commonwealth all-around champion and her team-mates, the ones she had just pushed into silver and bronze, lifted their friend, all six stone of her, onto their shoulders.

"It wouldn't have looked out of place in the men's floor final because she is such a power tumbler," says Craig Heap, former British team captain. "It was funky, cool and everything about her performance was really refreshing. She had better get used to standing on top of a podium."

Two more golds follow

Two more golds followed, with victories in the vault and floor adding to a golden collection that had started in the team event.

It was the first glimpse of her incomparable floor routine, in that all-around final, that prompted astonished onlookers to make their feelings known on social media and gave rise to the nickname 'Pocket Rocket'.

She had made it look simple, but then she was supposed to.

"It has to look easy," says Fragapane's coach, Helen Potter, the woman behind the scintillating choreography. Inspiration for the elements of street dance in the routine had come from scouring YouTube clips, while the whole dance is a reflection of Fragapane's personality. "She's dynamic and bubbly and we wanted to show that off," explains Potter. Such are the physical demands placed on the Bristolian by the complex routine that another coach, Rory Weavers, developed a specific programme to ensure she had the stamina and strength to cope.

The seeds of success were first sown years ago, at Bristol Hawks Gymnastics Club, where Potter began working with the six-year-old Fragapane and set about addressing the wannabe's weaknesses and enhancing her strengths.

"She has always had that power, has always been dynamic, but she was not naturally flexible," Potter remembers.