‘TOMBOY’ Holly Bleasdale has come a long way since the pole vaulting taster session on a rainy day in Blackburn in 2008.

Today the Blackburn Harrier hopes to emulate Olympic heroes Jessica Ennis, Greg Rutherford, Mo Farah and Colne’s Steven Burke, as she competes in the final of the sport she took up less than four years ago.

Holly’s proud dad Chris, 54, of Chiltern Avenue, Chorley, said: “Never in her wildest dreams did she expect to get to where she is. She went to this taster session just a few years ago and now she is the best in Britain.

“The sky is the limit. She is so young and she has years ahead of her. Holly is only 20 and a lot of the athletes in her event are 10 years older than her.

“Even though she has got to the heights she has got to, she still has a lot of time to progress further.

“It’s such a technical sport and any slight changes can affect your performance.

“Representing Great Britain is always something Holly has wanted to do since she was a girl.

“She is absolutely made up that she gets to wear a Team GB vest. She has to pinch herself.”

Only two women have pole vaulted higher than Holly in 2012 and Holly has said she is determined to give her best performance tonight.

Chris said Holly was a tomboy when she was growing up and excelled at sport throughout her childhood.

She was a budding hurdler and high jumper when she choose the pole vault. “We are very proud that Holly is taking part in the Olympics.” he said. “If something good happens, great. But if not, she has no need to worry about it.

“I am just as proud of her now as I was when she entered her first gymnastics event at the age of seven.

“For us it’s all about her pushing herself and achieving at whatever level.

“It doesn’t matter to me how Holly does, I know she will have tried her best and she has so much time and potential ahead of her.

“She works hard and she is driven. All she is thinking about at the moment is doing the best jump she can at the Olympics.He said Holly was remaining calm and was very focused on the job at hand. She is quite a cool person,” he said. “In the trials at Birmingham she hadn’t been jumping brilliantly and on the first two jumps she knocked the bar.

“Me and her mum were having palpitations.

“She cleared the third bar and when we asked her afterwards what was going through her mind she said, ‘I was telling myself to just get over it’.

“She just channels everything. She knows what she needs to do and she just gets on with it.”

While Chris will be cheering Holly on alongside wife Debbie, 55, at the Olympic Stadium, sister Abby, 16, who was unable to get a ticket, will be shouting her on with family back home.

On Saturday Holly tweeted: “Yeyyyy Olympics Finalist boooooom :) so happy! Felt amazing bring on the final :)) crowds were amazing.”