Fourteen-year-old Nicole Gatt (photo) is the darling of the athletics squad in Liechtenstein. She has already made her presence felt here in Liechtenstein as she darted towards a place in the women’s 400m on Wednesday.

Then she clocked 58.63 seconds for the event, but is now hoping to improve on that in today’s final.

Gatt, who is also a promising youth weightlifter, having already a 46kg lift in the Clean and Jerk and a 34kg in the Snatch, was in the news a few days ago when she was included in the Maltese Olympic Committee’s squad for the COJI Games in Sicily.

She told me that she was a bit disappointed that she could not take part officially in those competitions as she was still under age. “Those competitions are open to athletes who are 15, 16 and 17 years old. I am still 14 years old and so I was ineligible. Yet I was allowed to take part just the same although I was not awarded the medals for the events I managed to win,” she said.

In fact she won the 800m in a personal best time of 2:19.19 and the 100m in another personal best time of 12.89 seconds. In the relay, she helped the Malta team to register

50.60 seconds.

Nicole said her favourite event was the 400m. “I started showing interest in athletes when I was eight years old. I joined Starmax Athletics Club and I am still a member of this club. I started slowly, but today I can say I am at full swing. Besides the 400, I also take part in the 100m, 200m and 800m.

“Recently, I managed to qualify for these Games by winning the 400m at the National Open Championships at Marsa, clocking 57.47. Yesterday, I clocked 58.63 in winning heat No. 2, also qualifying for the final on Friday. I am now looking forward to this final and I’m hoping to be able to improve my timing once again,” she said.