The Saturday Interview with ice skater Alan Street

THE crowd was buzzing as a young Blackburn ice skater prepared to start his routine.

The hundreds of spectators in the arena could feel that they were about to witness something special, something that had never been seen from a British ice skater before, and they held their collective breath in anticipation.

Just seconds into the routine, Alan delivered what they were all waiting to see: the Quad Salchow, a four-rotation jump that only the top six or seven skaters in the world can do.

The crowd went wild. History had been made. Alan was the first -- and so far the only -- British skater to attempt and land the quad Salchow in competition.

That was four weeks ago, at a National Series event in Ayr. Alan proved that, at just 18, he was up there with the best and a major medal hope for the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.

The Bradford-born teen, who has trained in Blackburn for six years and lived there for more than two, was delighted.

"It was a brilliant feeling," he said. "Even more so because it hadn't been working for me in practise. I fell on a couple of jumps and two-footed the landing on another one during the practise session, but then somehow, when it counted, I just did it.

"I was lucky really. I was in competition so I just gave it that little bit extra. There was no pressure, I just went for it.

"I had nothing to lose. It is such a difficult jump, even the very best skaters in the world fall on it sometimes so I have to accept that I will as well. But I have been practising it for three or four years now, so I thought it was time to go for it." The British Nationals at the end of this month are to be held at the same rink in Ayr and Alan hopes to repeat the jump and become champion.

"If I fall obviously I won't get the full marks for the element but I will get something just for attempting it. It is a bonus if I get it and if I don't it's not the end of the world."

Since the age of six, Alan has been addicted to skating. He won his first national competition in an under-14s event, the British Novices, when he was just 11, followed closely by the under-16s' Primary Boys event a year later, and became one of the youngest ever British Junior (under 19s) champion at 15, and then again at 16.

Competing this year in the senior men's, Alan is hoping to add a fifth British title to his current haul. And, in two years' time, the ultimate prize awaits -- the chance to win Olympic gold.

But Lottery funding for ice skating has been stopped, because the competitors in previous years didn't do well enough. Alan, and his training partner and flatmate Zoe Jones, have lost out to the tune of £1,200 a year.

Luckily for Alan -- and anyone who wants to see Britain do well in t he ice skating at the Winter Olympics -- his parents, Barry and Angela, fund his training.

But even that hasn't been without its problems.

"We used to live in a big three bedroom detached house in Bradford," Alan explained. "But my mum and dad had to re-mortgage it twice to find money for skating, and eventually they had to sell it.

"They moved in to my gran's two-bedroomed terrace house and my sister Lauren had to share a room with mum and dad. Now they live in a little cottage on the outskirts of Bradford. "They always got the money somehow, and they did it without making a big deal of it.

"They have helped me so much and given me every opportunity. One day I hope to pay them back. I want to pay them back."

Alan makes no money - yet - from skating, but he knows it could one day make him a millionaire.

"As I get older there could be prize money, and then when I finish competing I can do shows, like Disney, and travel the world.

"And if you get an Olympic medal you can set your own price. Some skaters go straight into shows but I want to make it in the sport first."

Alan has invested everything -- not just money -- into skating. He rarely went to school because of his skating and has no GCSEs.

"All my friends are at college now, but I am not worried because I see skating as my college, my university. This is my job, I am learning a trade that will provide for me when I am older.

"The school were brilliant with me. When I was at school I was skating in the evening or at weekends and I had no time to see my friends or do anything else. When it came to the exams, they just said 'We'll pretend you were never here' and I didn't take any of them. "My friends weren't bothered about me skating. Other people played football, but they saw that skating was my passion.

"It is really important to have a life outside it. On Saturday nights, we will either go out in Blackburn with our friends or go further afield, like Blackpool or back to Bradford.

"But we have to treat our bodies like athletes should. When we go out we drink wine or spirits, not beer. You can't expect to go out and drink 13 pints of lager, eat a curry and then skate the next day."