Teen hangs out with Freeman

When Allan and Penny James noticed their toddler Paige had a propensity to jump from furniture and hang off whatever she could get her hands on, they figured the least they could do was teach her how to land safely.

"It's a little unsettling having a three-year-old jumping off your lounge or hanging off your Hills Hoist, so we thought we should at least teach her how to fall properly," Allan said.

"We would wake up in the morning and Paige would be outside just hanging off something."

That led to a pint-sized six-year-old going to the Jednorog Gymnastics Academy. A year later she was completing levels, and by the age of eight she was at the WA Institute of Sport.

Now 14, Paige is one of the country's most promising gymnastics prospects, highlighted by her junior floor gold and vault bronze at the national gymnastics championships this year.

She was one of just five young Australians to receive a place in the Sport Australia Hall of Fame scholarship and mentoring program last month.

Her mentor is Cathy Freeman, who she met for the first time at the awards ceremony this month.

Paige was only five months old when Freeman claimed gold in the 400m at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.

"I hadn't met her before but I always knew who she was," Paige said.

"We have her biography in our house and she's always been an inspiration.

"She said something like 'hi darling'. She wasn't what I expected her to be. I thought she would be really serious but she's really fun and happy."

Paige said she requested Freeman as a mentor, partly because she was such a great of the sporting world, but also so that she could lean on her for advice on being a top indigenous athlete.

"I can talk to her about things that other people wouldn't understand like how to deal with family or expectations. A lot of my comps are in Melbourne so hopefully I will be able to see her then and I can email and text her whenever I want and we can talk on the phone," she said.

Paige, whose other hero is fellow West Australian and 2010 floor world champion Lauren Mitchell, is already the first indigenous Australian to represent her country in gymnastics after going to a Youth Olympics in recent years, but she's setting her sights on higher honours.

"You can't become a senior gymnast until you're 16, which is kind of perfect for my case because at the 2016 Rio Olympics I'll be 16 so I'll be eligible to go, so that's a big goal of mine," she said.

Paige trains almost 35 hours a week, before and after her Year 9 studies at All Saints College.

She has been doing some work with international Aboriginal dance group Bangarra and hopes to integrate indigenous dance into her floor routines.

Despite growing up in St James, Paige regularly visits her elders in the Goldfields.

"We really try to promote the cultural side," Allan said. "When she goes back into those situations she just becomes Paige."

she's (Freeman) always been an inspiration." *Paige James *