Gymnasts jump for joy

For the third year in a row the CHAOSS Gymnastics team has returned from Dubai with their suitcases significantly heavier than on the outward flight.  

After months of preparation the CHAOSS team, who train in Saar, flew to Dubai for the Inter-Gulf Championships 2012 held last weekend against teams from Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

For several of the gymnasts it was their third successive year of action in the competition and they were joined by several new members aiming to be the stars of the future.  

The first competition saw the Intermediate girls competing against a very strong field in six different age categories.  

There were some fine performances all around but a special mention should go to the 12 medal winners. Congratulations to Charlotte Axtell, aged eight (bronze on both beam and floor), Danni Doherty, aged nine (bronze on vault and bronze all around), Nicky Payne, aged 10 (bronze on vault), Saja Kabalaoui, aged 11 (gold on vault), Amy Watson, aged 11 (bronze on beam) and Michaela Savva, aged 14 (five bronze medals – four apparatus and an all-round).

The afternoon competition saw the more experienced gymnasts take to the stage including Michaela Sandy, 13. Michaela, unfortunately, was the only gymnast from CHAOSS competing during the afternoon as many of the senior girls had exams and other commitments. However, she took it all in her stride as usual with great results. A lovely floor routine produced a gold medal, with two more gold medals for beam and vault as well as a silver medal on bars.

Saturday morning was the turn of the less-experienced gymnasts with eight CHAOSS girls competing. They were obviously eager to keep up the tally of medals and produced another nine medals amongst them.  

Mai Gosselin, nine, received a silver medal for her bar routine with Amalie Nielsen, eight, taking bronze on vault. However, it was two of the younger team members who stole the show.  Farah van der Kooi, seven, was awarded a gold medal for her vault and silver for floor. This was finished off with a gold medal for her all-round performance. Sophie Moir, six, returned home with bronze on floor, silver on vault and gold for her all-round performance.

Finally, on Saturday afternoon it was time for the boys to compete. The team made up of Sami Taylor, 13, Paul Britton, 13 and Eli Saghbini, nine, soon made it clear that they also had every intention of returning home with medals.  

Sami came away with silver on parallel bars and pommel horse. Eli received gold on both vault and pommel horse, with a silver medal for his high bar routine. However, it was Paul who was to take the crown with gold on floor and pommel horse, silver on vault with a final bronze for his all-round performance.  

“This was a particularly special medal for Paul as he only been able to train on five of the six pieces of apparatus so coming third against boys who competed on all six pieces was an amazing achievement,” said Debbie Payne, senior coach.

The team of gymnasts was supported by Debbie and her senior coach colleague Cara Mattias and their assistant coaches Mahmood, Hussain and Ella.  

Cara added: “We are delighted to have had such a successful competition. All of the gymnasts performed brilliantly and were a credit to CHAOSS. The team was one of the smaller ones attending the competition but they had by far the loudest support!”