THE SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS
How do you know you’ve got what it takes to be an elite athlete? Talent and physical ability are a huge part of what’s needed, but do you have that thing inside you that motivates you to go the extra mile, to train that bit harder and longer, to sacrifice, to push yourself to the extremes, that is needed to be the best? For Dani Christmas, one of the lessons that showcased her determination was as simple as hanging from a set of bars. How long could she do it for? Crucially, was it longer than everyone else?
Back then, Christmas was a teenager and a runner. As a child she says she could never sit still, and was always “up a tree or with a ball”. At one point when she was at school she was mixing athletics, gymnastics, tennis and sailing, before running came out on top. She was fast and found her home in the middle distances: 800 metres, although she eventually dabbled in the 1,500m too. Aged 14 she competed in her first international competition and was taking running seriously. By age 16 she knew that nothing else mattered more to her. Then in 2004 she was invited to a selection day in Birmingham run by
