OLYMPIC gymnast Craig Heap has been saved from retirement by an £11,000 donation from a local firm.

The 27-year-old from Burnley, who is Great Britain's only male gymnast at Sydney, had thought about giving his sport up after the Games because of lack of funding which left him surviving on a £70-a-week grant.

But, after reading about his plight in the Lancashire Evening Telegraph, medical fabric firm Smith and Nephew, based in Brierfield, has decided to help him out -- and has far surpassed Craig's expectations by giving him a cheque for £11,000 to see him through to the end of the year.

"It's absolutely amazing," said a delighted Craig who can now look forward to the Commonwealth Games in Manchester in 2002. "I had thought about giving it all up, I was fed up because I had no money or assets and thought Sydney would be the last time I would compete.

"But now I've got the backing, I can look forward to the Commonwealth Games. The money will go to the British Gymnastic Association and I'll be able to just buy everyday things like petrol, food, just my general living expenses, as well as sports gear and equipment. No one can understand how much this means to me."

Stuart Ashman, head of marketing at Smith and Nephew, said it was a unanimous decision from the shop floor to the American managing director, Darrell Jenkins, to help Craig out.

"We'd all read about the fact he was living on £70 a week and I had about ten cuttings of the article on my desk asking if we could help. We all thought it was diabolical that a local lad with such a talent would have to sell his car to carry on just living after the Olympics.

"There is enough pressure on Craig already, never mind financial pressure as well.

"We already had an interest in him as Craig 's sister Nicola used to work here and he uses our bandages, casts and sports tapes in his sport.

"We did wonder if we could persuade the American MD but he was more than keen to help out. We are a world wide company but we wanted to give something back to the local community and this was one way of doing it.

"We'll all be supporting Craig at the Olympics, even more so now, knowing we have helped him. We've also sent him to Sydney with a lot of tapes as well!"

Craig will make his Olympic debut in the six discipline gymnastic event -- the rings, floor, vault, pommel horse, parallel bars and high bar -- on September 16.