GOLDEN COUPLE
Butchart and Sharp hoping laughter and love follow them from San Diego to the Gold Coast
BOUND for a new life on the sun-kissed beaches of San Diego — wildfires permitting — the golden couple of Scottish athletics undoubtedly have a bright future together.
The very real prospect of Commonwealth Games success on the Gold Coast would only add to the sense of romance.
Even if it does mean Lynsey Sharp and Andrew Butchart, a pair who could have been dreamt up by marketing men to sell sport, shoes, breakfast cereal and just about anything else, achieving fresh levels of fame.
Sharp grinned as she was reminded that glory in Australia would only brighten the spotlight on the dream duo of Scottish sport.
‘I hope so!’ she declared. ‘I really hope that’s how it works out. That would be the dream, to both medal — and then go on to get medals at the European Championships in the summer as well.’
Speaking as Team Scotland named another 25 track-and-field athletes bound for the Gold Coast next spring, Sharp found her media scrum interrupted by a familiar face poking his nose in.
Butchart dead-panned as he asked: ‘Lynsey, your boyfriend Andrew Butchart is such a superstar. I was just wondering what it’s like to be in awe of him. And, in a sprint, who is faster?’
Sharp could barely keep a straight face as she taunted him about her superior speed on hills, while her other half’s claim that she had asked him for a first date prompted a killer look and a flat denial. ‘He’s a liar,’ said the 800metres star, her eyes narrowing as she exclaimed: ‘I think you know the real answer to that!’
Clearly at ease almost a year into their relationship, Sharp and Butchart are about to embark on a whole new life adventure.
‘Andy and I are moving to San Diego on Friday to spend some more time with Terrence Mahon (coach to both),’ revealed Lynsey.
‘That’s the kind of thing I think will make a lot of difference — spending time with him, especially leading into the Commonwealths.’
Referencing the current fires creeping ever closer to their new home, Sharp added: ‘I know. I’ve been checking the weather forecast and checking for the fires. It’s just north of San Diego at the moment, so, hopefully, it’ll be alright.
‘Terrence was based in Boston then he left his job and wanted to relocate back to the west coast. For the last six months, I’d been joking, saying: “As soon as you move, I’m there.”
‘Then it got to the end of October and I asked Andy if he just wanted to move.
‘I’ve actually only been once to San Diego. He’s trusting my opinion! It was the kind of rash decisions that we make. We said we might as well as we spend so much time over there.
‘He was going to go to Flagstaff in January. One of the things I wanted to do was cut down longhaul flights, so we will fly to Australia from LA instead of coming home first.
‘People have asked what we’ll be doing Christmas Day and I don’t know.
‘I actually had Christmas Day with my family on Sunday. Mum was a bit gutted I won’t be there for Christmas Day, but it’s a sacrifice to get me in the best shape for April.’
An element of competition is inevitable in any training squad, family group or athletics club. Just because they’re a couple, that doesn’t mean Sharp or Butchart are any different.
He won his first senior medal at the weekend, a bronze in the European Cross-Country Championships, so is gaining ground on a girlfriend who already boasts a Commonwealth Games silver, plus a gold and silver from the European Championships.
With both likely to double up in Australia, Butchart running the 5,000 and 10,000m while Sharp eyes the 800m and the 4x400m relay team, there is potential for a change in standings.
Mostly, of course, there’s more support than rivalry in this relationship. Having someone around who understands the peculiar strains of elite athletics definitely helps.
‘It’s funny,’ said Sharp. ‘Some days, I have sessions that mean something to me, that I know are an indication of what shape I’ll be in. He’ll know I’ll be in a s*** mood the whole morning, until I get my session out the way.
‘He will just leave me to it. I want to get the most out of that session. It means that much to me that I’m nervous about it. He understands that and won’t be constantly in my ear.
‘He got his first major medal at the weekend, so now the pressure is on for me.
‘It’s been a couple of years since I’ve medalled, so this year is the big one for me.’
Butchart is equally interested in making up lost ground, pointing out that Sharp is ahead on the medal count, but noting: ‘We both finished sixth at the Olympics, and eighth in the worlds — so this will kind of be the decider.
‘It is going to keep happening, but, after it, we can say: “I am better than you.” And that is important!
‘Yeah, I got the European medal, but that was different. That is cross-country. It has to be at the same event.’
Butchart insists that spending a lot of time with each other during the Games will be ‘probably not a good idea’, explaining: ‘We will probably put each other off!
‘I am quite good at being relaxed before races but I’m not sure Lynsey is. We will sleep separately and it is going to be individual totally. She has got her targets and I have got mine.
‘But she always asks me out. On her knees. It was her who asked first. Don’t listen to what she says.’