Queensland gymnasts secure places in team at upcoming World Championships

October 5, 2011

Five gymnasts from Queensland clubs are participating in the men’s and women’s Australian teams at the 2011 World Artistic Gymnastics championships. The 43rd World Championships will be held in Tokyo, Japan from October 10 – 16 at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium.

These gymnasts have been undergoing rigorous training and testing for this major event with rest of the Queensland squad at the High Performance Centre in Chandler. Kym Dowdell, Gymnastics Queensland Chief Executive Officer said the gymnasts have been training hard and are looking forward to competing on the world stage against the world’s most elite gymnasts.

“This event is the first qualifying round for the 2012 Olympics which will be held in London. The top eight countries will automatically qualify for the 2012 Olympics while countries placed 9th to 16th will get a chance to qualify for the last four full team spots at the London test event in January 2012.”

Travelling to Tokyo with team members are the internationally recognised coaches Serguei Chinkar (men’s) and Vladimir Joura (women’s coach). Other team members include:

Men’s Artistic Gymnasts
Thomas Pichler (Gold Coast Gymnastics Club)
Joshua Jefferis (Y-West Gymnastics Club)
Luke Wiwatowski (Club Dynamite)
Sam Simpson (travelling reserve, 2008 Olympian) (Lawnton Academy of Artistic Gymnastics)

Women’s Artistic Gymnast
Larrissa Miller (Gymnastics Moranbah)

“This event is renowned as the most important elite gymnastics event in every non-Olympic year featuring 532 competitors from 80 different countries – so we are extremely proud of our Queensland representatives and wish them all the best for the 2011 World Championships,” said Ms Dowdell.

EVENT: 2011 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships
WHEN: October 10 – 16, 2011
WHERE: Tokyo, Japan

QUEENSLAND TEAM COMPETITORS:
Thomas Pichler (Gold Coast Gymnastics Club)
Joshua Jefferis (Y-West Gymnastics Club)
Luke Wiwatowski (Club Dynamite)
Sam Simpson (travelling reserve) (Lawnton Academy of Artistic Gymnastics)
Larrissa Miller (Gymnastics Moranbah)

CLUB CONTACT DETAILS:

Gym QLD Gold Coast Gymnastics, Burleigh Heads, 07 5572 3619
Y-West Gymnastics Club, Jamboree Heights, 07 3376 4266
Club Dynamite, Mansfield, 07 3849 2964
Lawnton Academy of Artistic Gymnastics, Lawnton, 07 3205 6181
Gymnastics Moranbah, Moranbah, 07 4941 8588

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