THE 2012 Olympics are going to be a landmark event for Christine Bowker.

The founder of Greenhead Gymnastics Club has been chosen as one of the officials for next summer’s Olympic Games in London.

The former Greenhead College PE teacher, who has been, and remains, one of the top qualified gymnastic coaches, as well as an International and High Performance judge, will be a member of the secretariat for the Bars discipline in the women’s competition at the O2 arena.

Before then, however, Christine, will be on duty at the Olympic trials for GB competitors, which is also being staged at the O2 between the 7th and 14th of January.

“Obviously, I was really pleased to be asked to officiate, as it’s a wonderful opportunity to get together with people connected with the sport from all over the world that I’ve met and got to know,” said Bowker, who is now the principal and director at Greenhead Gym club.

“It is quite an honour to be involved with the Olympics as there is just one judge from Great Britain, and only four people from GB working on the Secretariat.

“There are only four disciplines in women’s gymnastics – beam, vault, isometric bars and floor.

“Our main function is to assist the judges by feeding the scores into the computer after each gymnast has performed.”

Bowker, who founded the Greenhead Gym Club back in 1969, is no stranger to major competitions, having worked around the world as a judge.

“One of my first events was the European Championships in Rimini in Italy, back in 1983, which is where I first met Nellie Kim (one of Russia’s star gymnasts who won three gold medals at Montreal in 1976 and two more at Moscow in 1980).

“Nellie and I were chosen to read out ‘peace messages’ at those Championships, she doing it in Russian and me in English.

“She is now the chairperson of the Federation of International Gymnastics, while another of my friends and former Russian gymnasts Lyubov Burda, who was married to Nikolai Andrianov, the second most decorated male athlete in Olympic history.

“I’m hoping to see Lyubov, who is now also on the FIG committee.”

As well as visiting Russia many times, and playing host to coaches and gymnasts from the Soviet Union in the UK, Bowker has worked at the World Championships in Montreal in 1985, plus three more since, along with the World Student Games, taking in countries Fukuoka in Japan, Buffalo, New York, Beijing, Zagreb in Croatia, as well as Commonwealth Games in Manchester, Melbourne, and last year in Delhi.

“I’m really looking forward to both the trials next month and, of course, the Olympics next August,” added Bowker. “The British Olympic Association provide us with accommodation, but contrary to what some of my students at Greenhead may believe, we don’t get paid for officiating, we do it simply for the honour.”