WHENEVER Lynsey Sharp needs a reminder of the night she became the unadulterated drama queen of Glasgow 2014, she always has those four words to turn to. ‘Get out, strong, commit’. Originally scribbled on her palm as a memory aid in permanent marker pen, they have now been immortalised into a tattoo on her forearm:

Sharp claims to be a different, more robust, athlete now than the woman she was in Glasgow three years ago. Back then, her first success was simply making it onto the start line for the 800m final, having spent the preceding weeks and months battling a leg injury and the final frantic few hours in a hospital bed attached to a drip in a bid to stem severe vomiting symptoms.

The story ended happily, though, with a silver medal. And if it takes another gripping, dramatic plotline for her to return from the Gold Coast this summer with another medal or two for her collection Sharp will happily endure something similar this time around.

“I was looking on Getty Images when we were driving up and there were so many pictures with the permanent marker on my hand,” admitted Sharp, speaking as she was named in a powerful-looking 26-strong athletics team for April’s showpiece in Australia.

“I remember Terrence [Mahon, her coach] saying ‘trust you to make a dramatic story out of it’. I was like ‘I didn’t do it for attention, I did it because you told me to have words in my head and that was the easiest way for me, to have it there’.

“It will always have a special place in my heart, that moment was unbelievable. It was a culmination of so many things and it came together thankfully. But I’ve developed so much as an athlete since then and ran faster.

“I’m definitely a different athlete now,” she added. “I’m a lot more robust after a couple of years with a really good gym programme. I’ve been looking after myself and become less injury prone. I’ve been able to do stuff I wasn’t able to do before. But even this year in London [the World Championships], getting disqualified then re-instated, there is always something with me! But I flourish in that atmosphere. And if it means drama to be successful, I’ll take that. Although maybe not spending the night before my final on a drip!”

Not everything is so different to Glasgow – the formidable form of the hyper-androgynous Caster Semenya is set to continue her role as the scourge of Scottish female middle distance running by doubling up in the 800m and 1500m, and there is other stern competition besides.

Sharp, who moved to San Diego with partner Andrew Butchart just days ago, for one feels the tricky April competition date could work in her favour, rather than against her.

“It is a really strong event,” she said. “But it was strong in Glasgow, too. One of the runners was world champion the following year, there were other class runners in there. Everyone will face the same challenges with it being in April, you don’t know what shape everyone is going to be in. So it’s more open than it would have been if it had been in August.”

As it turns out, Sharp also has designs on doubling up. She has been enthusiastically putting her name forward for a slot in the 4x400m relay, although her competition schedule means that her team-mates would have to deliver her into the final first, hardly out of the question considering Eilidh Doyle and Zoey Clark were both part of the GB team which finished second at the World Championships in London this summer.

“I’m really excited to have a 4x400 squad,” said Sharp. “We had one in Glasgow but didn’t make the final. I can’t do the heats in the Gold Coast, because the heats are in the morning of the 800. So I will only do the final if we get there – and if selected!”