Queensland cleans up at Nationals
2014 AUSTRALIAN GYMNASTICS CHAMPIONSHIPS
May 30, 2014
Queensland gymnasts are celebrating after having taken out the top crowns in the first week of the 2014 Australian Gymnastics Championships, which were held at the Hisense Arena in Melbourne between 21 and 26 May.
Gymnastics Queensland Chief Executive Officer Kym Dowdell said Queensland competitors had placed first in both the Women’s Artistic Gymnastics (WAG) and Men’s Artistic Gymnastics (MAG) Senior International divisions.
“It’s really exciting to see some of our state’s most talented gymnasts competing against the best of the best and topping the field at a national level,” Ms Dowdell said.
“The winner of the WAG Senior International event, Georgia Godwin, who is originally from the Gold Coast, is just 16 years old and had only returned to training just three weeks before the event due to injury.”
“It’s a credit to Georgia’s raw talent and determination to succeed that she was able to compete against seasoned international gymnasts and claim the gold despite her reduced training time in the lead-up to the event.”
Godwin quickly gained a reputation at Nationals for her power moves including her double salto tumble passes on the floor and salto connections on the beam.
Ms Dowdell said Georgia also performed a double layout dismount off bars — a particularly complex move on the bars involving a straight body somersault that rotates twice— for the first time in her competition career at the event.
“Georgia has demonstrated her versatility in the gymnastics arena, and proved herself to be a leading all-round gymnast,” Ms Dowdell said.
“She was also joined on the podium by fellow Gymnastics Queensland High Performance Centre gymnast and three-time Olympian Naoya Tsukahara, who took out the MAG Senior International event for the fifth time in his career.”
“We are delighted to have such a talented team of gymnasts representing Queensland and joining the 1,300-plus athletes competing at Nationals.”
“We are incredibly proud of all the Queensland gymnasts who took part in the artistic gymnastics events and look forward to seeing how our gymnasts fare in the trampoline, acrobatic and rhythmic gymnastics events in the final days of competition,” Ms Dowdell said.
The 2014 Australian Gymnastics Championships will run until Sunday, 1 June at Hisense Arena. For further details, please visit www.gymnastics.org.au.
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EVENT: 2014 Australian Gymnastics Championships.
WHEN: Now to Sunday, 1 June.
WHERE: Hisense Arena, Melbourne and Olympic Parks, Olympic Blvd, Melbourne VIC.
TIME: Please see online schedule of events.
INFORMATION: Website www.gymqld.org.au.
General information: 07 3036 5607.
On-the-ground contact: Kym Dowdell, 0414 487 113 (media use only).
For further media information, please contact Maya from Fresh PR and Marketing on 07 5351 1010 / 0410 109 102 or email maya@freshprm.com.au.
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