Kieran Gorman

Kieran Gorman World Number One

Kieran Gorman qualified in second place for both events with room for improvement.  In the finals Gorman performed an outstanding routine to secure first place in both events held in Las Vegas 20-24 July 2010.

Winning these events and combined with his winning results in previous 2010 World Series events Kieran was awarded the World Series 2010 Championship trophy .  This officially confirmed Gorman as the World number one ranked Senior Male Aerobic athlete.  This is the first time in Australian history that a gymnast has achieved this ranking in any discipline. 

Coach Trudi Nurse said 'This is an amazing and historical result, I am so proud of Kieran and his achievements.  He is proving himself to be an athlete that dominates all international events.  At age 22 Kieran still has the possibility of at least ten more years at this level.  He is highly motivated to continue to push the boundaries of our sport. I am just so thrilled for him and Australian gymnastics.'

Kieran is from Western Australia and is a member of Spirit Gymsports where he has been training for more than ten years.  In 2004 he won his first major international event and was crowned World Age Champion in his division.  In his career he has earnt more than twenty international medals for Australia.  This year has been his most successful year ever and he has recently secured sponsorship from McInerney Ford.

Outstanding results were also achieved by WA junior athletes at the competition.  Chelsea Carroll (16) won gold in the Age Group 2 category.  Carroll defended her 2009 title with the highest junior score ever achieved by an Australian athlete.   'Her routine was her most outstanding performance ever.  Chelsea has developed a reputation of not only performing an excellent technical routine but becoming a crowd favourite around the world with her artistic flare.' said Nurse.

Cairo Leicester (14) competed in the Age Group 1 category and received the silver medal equalling her result in last year's competition.  This tops off a great year for Cairo.  Next year she will move into Age Group Category 2 to compete along side team mate Carroll. 'Cairo is one of Australia's brightest rising stars. I feel sure Cairo will continue to dominate internationally for years and years to come. I'm so proud of her achievements.' said Nurse.

The trio of Jazmin Crawford (12), Carissa Curia (10) and Giveney How (12) are the youngest to compete from Australia.  They placed second in their division.  Nurse said 'I am so pleased for these girls and their amazing result it has been a lot of fun preparing for this event with these girls.  We did a lot of early morning training sessions and the girls were always keen and positive, they have an exciting future in Sport Aerobics.'  This team is coached by Trudi and Jodie Behan at Spirit Gymsports.

Full results will are available on the Gymnastics Australia website.

Emily Little and Lauren Mitchell

WG Commonwealth Games Team Announced

Lauren Mitchell (College Park/ WAIS) and Emily Little (Spirit Gymsports/ WAIS) have been selected as part of the Women's Gymnastics 2010 Commonwealth Games team.

They join Janine Murray ( NDGC / RGHPC) from Rhythmic Gymnastics as part of the Commonwealth Games team.

Read more at the The West Australian  - WAIS trio lead Games assault 

Everyone at Gymnastics WA would like to congratulate the gymnasts on their selection.

Click here to watch the promotional video for the Commonwealth Games featuring Lauren Mitchell.

WG IDP Clinic, Perth, July 12-14, 2010

An enthusiastic bunch of 92 young gymnasts attended representing 16 different High Performance programs from around the country.  They came with their coaches – of which there were more than 30 in attendance; all resulting in a busy atmosphere displaying some of the greatest gymnastics talent in the country. 

The clinic was lead by National Junior Development Co-ordinator Jo Richards with experienced coaches – National Coach – Peggy Liddick, WAIS coaches Nikolai Lapchine and Dmitri Kalinen and National Choreographer Stacey Umeh leading the technical direction on each apparatus.

All of the participating gymnasts actively compete in the IDP and were selected from their performances and ranking on the National IDEAL Skills test. The focus of the clinic was refining the girls basic techniques whilst also extending them in appropriate areas of advanced skill development.

The clinic was divided into two groups: Clinic 1 was the 11-13 year olds and Clinic 2 was the 9-11 year age group.  Both clinics trained 5 full training sessions over the 3 days – so it was a busy schedule for their coaches!

Also held during the three days was an intensive coach’s workshop.  Focus of the workshop was Uneven bars; Peggy Liddick shared with the coaches the current International direction and recommended routine composition, Dmitri Kalinen demonstrated some sound basic principles during his presentation “Teaching girls like boys on bars” and Nikolai Lapchine covered the methodology for 2 key optional skills – the double back dismount with full out and the Jaeger.

Look out in future editions of GA Latest news for more information about the Team Future and Team Future High Achiever squads, the skills and dance that the girls performed at the conclusion of the clinic along with some revealing interviews with our up-and-coming Team Future stars!

Rosemary Hartley with Cath and Robyn

Function held during WG Nationals

It was with pleasure that Gymnastics Australia (GA) and Gymnastics WA welcomed their guests to the  WG National Championships - it was great to see so many people there!

On this occassion we also took the opportunity to present on behalf of the GA Athlete’s Commission the Athlete Award of Distinctions.  The GA Athlete's Commission, represented on the evening by Allana Slater, has introduced a recognition program to acknowledge those athletes who have reached the highest level within their chosen gymsport. The GA athlete commission recognises the importance of acknowledging these athletes who have led, or are leading our sport on the international arena at World Championship, Commonwealth Games or Olympic Games level.  In total Gymnastics WA has 54 athletes that are eligibile for this award and we were fortunate enough to be able to present them to 14 of the Awardees.

GA Coaching Team of the Year - Martine George and Nikolai Lapchine (WAIS)

GA WG Senior Athlete of the Year - Lauren Mitchell (WAIS)

GA WG Junior Athlete of the Year - Emily Little (WAIS)

Congratulations to all athletes, coaches and WAIS on your achievements.