Helen Scott ready to play part in Paralympics

Sitting in the sun on the balcony to her new room, Helen Scott has a perfect view of the now iconic Olympic Stadium.

The 22-year-old from Halesowen is enjoying life in the Olympic Village and is preparing for her spot on the cycling track where she aims to gain a gold medal at the Paralympics.

However, Helen's story is different to most of the athletes at the Games as the former Earls High School pupil doesn't suffer from a disability.

Helen is one of the few able-bodied competitors at the Games as she rides tandem with partially-sighted Paralympic gold medallist Aileen McGlynn.

Aileen won her clutch of medals – three golds and a silver – at the Paralympics in Beijing and Athens with a different pilot, Ellen Hunter.

So, as Helen faces the daunting prospect of stepping into Ellen's shoes for London 2012, she's feeling the pressure, but says she is looking forward to the experience.

"It's going to be like nothing I've ever experienced before – it's really exciting," says Helen, who was also a pupil at Quinton Church Primary School.

"Because we're competing in our home country, everybody expects the team to perform.

"Even people who have been to the Games before, like Aileen, are excited."

Helen started getting involved in cycling when her parents, Ian and Tracey, took her along to Halesowen Athletics and Cycling Club when she was 10 years old. But, it was watching Chris Hoy win the kilo at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games that Helen decided she wanted to become a professional cyclist.

She started out as a sprint academy rider in November 2008 and then went on to join the GB Para-cycling Team in April 2010.

She was the title of National Champion in the women's Team Sprint in 2009 and says she hopes to carry on competing and take part in the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio. "There is a professional pathway within British Cycling and you get on the talent team and the Olympic Development Programme," says Helen who has three brothers, Ed, Tom and Joe and one sister called Alice.

"I started a degree course in sport, PE and coaching science at the University of Birmingham but gave it up after two weeks when I found out I had been accepted into the British Cycling's Sprint Academy.

According to Helen both the pilot, which is the able-bodied person who sits at the front and steers the bike, and the stoker – the cyclist at the back of the bike – need to work in harmony.

"Aileen and I were placed together because we are both sprinters," she says.

"We're of a similar height and we've been together one solid year now and we know each other really well. When I was first asked if I would take part in the tandem event I wasn't too sure as I'd never seen anyone do it before. However, the bikes are really easy to ride and we have to work in harmony, cycling at the same time."

Helen, who now lives in Manchester, says rather than it being easier with two people on one bike it can sometimes be hard work.

"The thing people forget is it's two people's weight you're trying to push around the track. The extra weight slows you down a bit. And as soon as we start fatiguing, it has more of an impact on the tandem."

However, once a tandem cycling team get going, there's no stopping them.

"At our fastest events, things like the kilo, we travel at 62 kph maximum," says Helen. "It's pretty cool when you're on the tandem – you can actually feel that speed.

It's one of the reasons I love cycling in tandem so much."

Helen trains at the velodrome in Manchester alongside cycling stars such as Chris Hoy and Victoria Pendleton.

"It has become a normal part of life and we train with them every day and get to know them," says Helen.

"They are legends but at the same time they are very down to earth – when I train I can hear Chris Hoy cheering us on and that is an amazing feeling after we have seen what he has achieved."

"The atmosphere in the Olympic Village is amazing and I can see the stadium from my balcony – it just feels unbelievable at the moment," she says.