By LUKE VOOGT
Five junior Geelong gymnasts will represent Victoria at a 2016 Australian Gymnastics Championships next week.
Team member Elly Bayes said she couldn’t wait to compete.
“I’m really honoured to be there this year.”
The Geelong West 14-year-old travels to Melbourne six days a week for 32 hours of training.
Elly said she found her passion for gymnastics seven years ago as a “very active“ child around the house.
“I was always trying to do flips off the furniture. Mum was, like, ‘better get her to do gymnastics so she gets some help’.”
Elly said she enjoyed the thrill of performing but nothing beat the feeling of learning a new skill.
“When you’ve been working on something for ages and you finally accomplish it it’s a great feeling.”
Elly said she had competed at championships previous but next week would be her first experience in its Junior International division.
Coach Tracey Penaluna said she had been putting Elly through her paces on the vault, beam, uneven bars and floor routines in preparation for the next level.
“I think she’ll do well in this division.”
Elly said her dream was to represent Australia at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics with Elly’s coach rating her a chance.
“That would mean the world to me,” Elly said.
The other Geelong gymnasts at the championships will be Sam Lindeman, Heath Thorpe, Mila Blyth and Rose Blackhall. All five are too young to qualify for this year’s Rio Olympics.
Melbourne’s Hisense Arena will host 14,000 athletes in 6000 routines at the championships from Monday to 4 June.
