BRITAIN'S sole Olympic men's gymnastics hope today spoke of his battle for success and revealed he has been forced to live in a one room flat and survive on a grant of £75 a week.

Burnley's Craig Heap, 27, knows he won't bring home gold from Sydney next month, either in a medal or in a bulging pay packet.

But if he can get into the world's top 30 he will see his lottery grant from Sport England triple from £300 a month to £900, still a lot less than many other jobs.

Yesterday Craig took time off from his intensive pre-Olympics training at Lilleshall National Sports Centre, Shropshire, to return to his "home" ground at the Thompson recreation centre, Burnley, to pick up a £1,000 cheque raised through a sponsored aerobics bike ride and leg shaving event.

The event was organised by the centre to give Craig a much-needed cash boost to help pay for his training and living expenses. Craig saw his Sport England grant cut from £900 a month to £300 last October after a poor team performance in the world championship, even though Craig put in a sparkling performance to be ranked 32nd.

In May he repeated his top performance by coming 16th in the European championship.

Fortunately Craig has the support of his dad David, who lives in Burnley, and mum Stephanie, of Barrowford, who put him up and fed him while at home.

"I'm 27 years old and all I have is in a box room at Lilleshall at the moment," said former Barden High School pupil Craig, who flies out to Australia on Saturday. "To say I'm the only British representative in my sport at the Olympics I think £300 a month is a poor amount.

"If you deliver the goods you should be rewarded."

Picture: Craig Heap leads fund-raisers in an exercise bike marathon at the Thompson Centre, with head of leisure Karen Bradford holding his £1,000 cheque