BRISTOL gymnast Imogen Cairns has trimmed her schedule in a bid to continue putting off retirement – but concedes her team-mates and not injury could force her hand before the London 2012 Olympics.

The 21-year-old, pictured, had grand plans to hang up her leotard upon returning home from the Commonwealth Games last month, but her remarkable performances in Delhi forced a rethink.

Having barely competed since the Beijing Olympics after seriously damaging both feet, Cairns not only retained her vault title, but also collected floor gold and team silver in India.

Cairns jetted off to Rotterdam for the World Championships before she could even think about her future, helping Britain to seventh in the team event, while finishing eighth in the vault. She has since postponed her retirement and dropped the bars from her programme, but insists the strength in depth in Britain means reaching the London Olympics is far from a certainty.

"At first, I was going to retire when I came back from the Commonwealth Games, but then the season has seen me go to the World Championships and I don't think I am in the position to do that," said Cairns.

"Everything has gone so much better than I thought, I just wanted to get to the Commonwealth Games and anything else would have been a bonus. But I think I can push my body through a bit more and now I want to see what my limits are. When my body collapses, that will be it.

"British Gymnastics is growing massively and there has never been so many of us. There was only ever one or two girls and one boy, but now we have got more like 12 really good girls.

"People now keep asking me about 2012 and I think it is more and more possible in my head. We are growing as a nation but only five will go to the Olympics. I will probably end up trying to go, but it will be tough."

Cairns will now focus on the vault, the floor and the beam and has been boosted by the appointment of Canadian Carol-Angela Orchard as a coach for British Gymnastics.

Orchard will specialise in beam and artistic preparation and Cairns revealed that was one of the reasons she chose to drop the bars and focus on the other three pieces.

"It is really exciting to have Carol-Angela on board – she has been my coach for a while now and has helped improved my beam," she added. "That is partly the reason why I am keeping it up and if the beam can go up in general that would be a big boost because we haven't been that good at it.

"I would like to make the European Championships next year and then the worlds and I hope that by doing the three pieces I can now move in a good direction."

● Visa is proud to be Presenting Partner of Team 2012, a team of 1,200 athletes across the UK who are aiming to compete at the London 2012 Games. For more information go to www.lifeflowsbetter.com.