ALAN Shearer swears by chicken and beans to fuel his hunger for goals.

England cricketer Phil Tufnell argues the merits of a four-pack and a packet of 20 Bensons to satisfy his appetite, writes ANDY NEILD.

Then there's Chelsea's Gianluca Vialli. In his first game in charge at Stamford Bridge, his team were given half a glass of champagne before sticking three past Arsene's Gunners in their Coca-Cola Cup Semi-final win.

Comic-strip hero Alf Tupper, the 'tough of the track', as he was popularly known, would never run a race without first polishing off a plate of fish and chips.

Rebecca White relies on another form of energy boost - a Cadbury's Boost.

Great Britain's new teenage sprinting sensation is a self-confessed chocaholic and it's tempting to think she would be just as happy running for chocolate buttons as Olympic medals.

"I'm not strict about dieting. I'll eat anything and everything but I love chocolate and I eat a lot of it," said Rebecca with a smile.

"I don't have a favourite kind. Just as long as it's chocolate then I'm happy."

To see such an attitude is refreshing in this robotic age when personality is often suffocated by sports science and diet sheets.

But that's not to say she lacks the necessary appetite for success. Far from it.

Her excellent debut in a Great Britain vest last week at the Indoor Athletics International, held at Birmingham's Indoor Arena, was proof of that.

She finished second overall in the 60m dash to German favourite Reucher by just one hundredth of a second - the width of a chocolate wrapper - to chalk up the greatest achievement of her career so far.

To perform so well on her International debut was pleasing, especially after the disappointment of narrowly missing the cut last time round.

"I could have got a Great Britain vest last year because I did achieve the European Qualifying Time in the heats," Rebecca explained. "But I only came fourth in the race and the selectors decided to take the first, second and third placed girls and didn't take me.

"I was a bit upset after that so I was delighted to get selected this time and perform so well."

Before last week, Rebecca was probably more well known for the part she played in trying to help Diane Modahl resurrect her flagging career.

After successfully clearing her name following drug-taking allegations, Modahl needed to achieve the qualifying time to make the Commonwealth Games.

She made an attempt down at Blackburn's Witton Park track and Rebecca was chosen as the pacemaker.

"It was probably the most nervous I've ever been before a race.

"I'd only just started running 400s and the race was on TV, but I only appeared for about two seconds," she added.

"I managed to get her round quickly enough although she didn't go on to make the qualifying time."

Now Rebecca's emerging from the shadows to set the pace in her own field. Her sights are firmly set on the outdoor season and the World Juniors which will be held in France later in the year.

"The immediate target is to keep up my training in preparation for the outdoor season.

"My coach, Paul Beresford, has said I need to be running 23.5 for the outdoor 200 metres, which would give me the qualifying time for the World Juniors," she said.

"My personal best is 24.17 indoors and you're supposed to run faster outdoors so I should be alright."

And after that the 17-year-old is keen to have a crack at the serious stuff. "I do want to get to the Olympics - that is my goal - but Sydney in 2000 is probably too soon," said Rebecca.

"The Commonwealth Games two years later is probably a more realistic target."

One man who will cheer her all the way is her grandad, Keith Woodward, whom she regards as her biggest fan.

He's been a big influence since she first flirted with athletics at primary school.

"Wherever I am competing in the country he will always come and watch me.

"I wouldn't have got to where I am now if he hadn't taxied me to training sessions and events when I was younger," said Rebecca, with clear emotion.

But the hunger to satisfy growing ambitions could mean swapping her Haslingden home - where she lives with her grandparents - for the bright lights of Boston, Massachusetts, where she's been offered the chance of a scholarship.

"I really wanted to go over to America so I got out a book telling me which places offer scholarships and I wrote to all the ones offering the most money.

"Boston wrote back saying they needed a sprinter so they've offered me a scholarship for a four year course."

Such a move might just be the springboard she needs to make her the first British female sprinter to become a household name - a feat she is surprised hasn't been achieved by someone before.

"I really don't know why we haven't managed to produce a top-class woman sprinter in this country because we've certainly got the facilities, especially down south," said Rebecca ruefully.

And if she can maintain her own flying start there may soon be cries of "chocs away"!

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.