01. Dezember 2015  
Melbourne, AUS  
Artistic Gymnastics

Australia's Women's Gymnastics Team back in the gym and looking ahead to Rio

The Australian Women’s Artistic Gymnastics (WAG) Team are back in the gym, commencing an intensive training camp in Melbourne this week in preparation for the Rio Test Event in April 2016, after their 14th place finish in the Team competition at last month’s Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Glasgow, Scotland. Australia has a challenging road ahead before making it to the podium in the Games of the XXXI Olympiad. They will line up alongside Brazil, France, Belgium, Germany, Romania, South Korea and Switzerland at the Test Event to be held in the Olympic host city, competing for one of four remaining Team places in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

Peggy Liddick (AUS)

Gymnastics Australia (GA) is focussing on the implementation of a number of short-term strategies that are intended to maximise the WAG team’s performance between now and the Olympic Test Event/Olympic Games next year. Given the high-concentration of Melbourne-based, age-eligible athletes, GA has taken the initiative to install National Coach, Peggy Liddick, as the Head Coach at the National Centre of Excellence (NCE) in Melbourne, to work alongside the NCE coaches in facilitating the best preparation environment for the athletes as they look towards 2016.
Over the coming months, athletes from outside Melbourne will also have significantly more direct contact time with Liddick, with monthly camps at the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) in Canberra. They will also have access to key medical staff from across our High Performance system. This will assist with the development of the athletes’ training plans and apply new learning around the prescription, monitoring and management of training loads.

Mark RENDELL (AUS)

Gymnastics Australia CEO, Mark Rendell, said that following extensive consultation at both Board and High Performance levels to review the results from Glasgow, a robust strategy has been approved to prepare and support our Australian athletes to compete successfully in Rio. “We have put in place immediate short term strategies to focus on a successful Rio campaign and set long-term strategies to set the foundations for the future of Australian Gymnastics as medal contenders for Tokyo and beyond”  Rendell said.

Liddick is confident that with the implementation of these short-term strategies, the Australian Team can achieve its goal of producing a successful performance at the 2016 Olympic Games. “I have full confidence in this group of athletes and coaches, and am certain that working together in such a cohesive and supportive environment will enable the team to produce an optimum performance in Rio in both April and August next year.”
* source:  GYMNASTICS AUSTRALIA RELEASE