Whelan won three European Championships medals and four British senior national titles, and was the bronze medallist in the all-around at the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

There, I was immediately spotted as a talent and began training at South Manchester Gymnastics Club with coach Helen Hall.

"[2] A year later, when Whelan was seven, her family moved to the United States, where she trained at Flips Gymnastics Academy in Texas.

In 2001, at the age of nine, she moved back to Stockport with her family and resumed training with Hall, this time at Vernon Park Gymnastics Club.

In 2005, Whelan switched gyms and began training under Sarah Attwell at the City of Liverpool Gymnastics Club,[3] alongside Beth Tweddle.

Despite this, she passed eight GCSE exams, receiving seven B's and one C.[6] She studied sports development at Liverpool John Moores University.

[16] In October, she competed at the 2010 World Championships in Rotterdam, where she contributed scores of 13.900 on uneven bars, 14.133 on balance beam, and 14.066 on floor toward the British team's seventh-place finish.

[20] And at the British Teams competition in Guildford in May, Whelan helped her club, City of Liverpool, win first place with an all-around score of 56.850.

[21] In July, Whelan won her second consecutive national title at the British Championships in Liverpool, posting an all-around total of 56.350.

[26] In March, Whelan competed at a World Cup event in Doha, placing sixth on balance beam with a score of 13.425.

[32] The following month, she was selected to compete for the United Kingdom at the Olympics in London, alongside Imogen Cairns, Jennifer Pinches, Rebecca Tunney, and Beth Tweddle.