Training pays off for Jewish gymnasts
AFTER months of intensive preparation, seven Jewish athletes with talent to burn will be in action at the 2017 Australian Gymnastics Championships over the next week at Melbourne’s Hisense Arena.
AFTER months of intensive preparation, seven Jewish athletes with talent to burn will be in action at the 2017 Australian Gymnastics Championships over the next week at Melbourne’s Hisense Arena.
First up will be 14-year-old NSW artistic gymnast Jaymi Aronowitz, who won a level eight silver medal at last year’s nationals and was due to compete in the level nine final today (May 25).
The Moriah College student dedicates 21 hours per week to training at the NSW Academy of Gymnastics.
She told The AJN “I love this sport and it’s always exciting, and slightly nerve-wracking, when the national championships come close.”
“My ultimate aim this week is obviously to win, but also to perform at my best.”
Aronowitz’s favourite discipline in artistic gymnastics is the bars, but she considers her strongest apparatus to be the vault “which I happened to pick up easily from a young age”.
“I really enjoy the challenge of learning new higher value skills sequences, going to training and getting stronger.
“I’m fortunate to have two coaches that are always encouraging me, and I just aim to improve.”
Five Jewish rhythmic gymnasts and U11 boys’ trampoline gymnast James Mann-Segal – all from Victoria – will compete at the nationals between May 31 and June 4.
Among them are Prahran Rhythmic Gymnastics Centre trio Anna Logachova (16), Alexandra Kiroi (15) and Ommer Yemini (13).
Kiroi, the current Maccabi Australia Jewish Junior Sportswoman of the Year, is a seven-time Victorian champion who trains 26 hours per week, and stepped up from junior national to junior international level last year.
She won a silver medal at a major tournament in Italy in 2016 and made the finals of the Aphrodite Cup in Greece earlier this year.
Logachova has also performed well at overseas tournaments and will represent Victoria at the nationals in the senior international division, while Yemini will compete at national level nine.
Their coach, Kateryna Logachova, believes the two older girls are feeling confident about the nationals “because they’re both very experienced gymnasts now, so they know how to prepare and to focus”.
“It will be Ommer’s second appearance at the nationals and she’s been training more intensively this year.
“All three girls help each other whenever they are having tough moments.”
Glen Iris Gymnastics members Rashelle Feldman and Jessica Weintraub will compete at the Australian Championships at sub-junior international and junior international level respectively.
SHANE DESIATNIK
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