Gymnastics boss proud of Junior World Champs performance
Published:Sunday | April 9, 2023 | 1:59 AMLivingston Scott - Gleaner Writer
PRESIDENT OF the Jamaica Amateur Gymnastics Association (JAGA) Nicole Grant-Brown is hailing the performance of the nation’s lone representative, Isabelle David, at the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) artistic gymnastics junior world championships in Turkey which ended last weekend.
The American born gymnast finished an impressive ninth in the vault competition with 13,233 points.
Her overall results also improved Jamaica’s placing from 54 to 30 with 47,266 points.
She also finished in the top 50 of the floor exercise (46th, with 11,800 points) and balance beam (25th, with 11,733) events and was 64th in the uneven bars (10,500) out of 125 competitors.
Grant-Brown said the 15-year-old excelled beyond expectation and came within one place of making the vault final, and she believes her performance in Turkey will lead to even more places for Jamaica at the next junior World Championships.
“She got the highest execution score in the tournament on the vault, which is a great achievement and she was a reserve for the final.
“This is a very important competition, the highest competition at the junior level that we can expose our athletes to.
“We only got a spot because we were at the first junior World Championships, this was the second,” she noted.
“However, with Isabelle’s performance we hope that for the third edition we get three spots, so we can have a team.”
She now believes that David, who becomes a senior next year when she turns 16, can truly be competitive internationally, as her results proved she is not far off the top competitors.
“It is going to help her to compete at the senior level. She can excel at that level when you compare her with the competitors at the World Championships. There are just a few little differences that put them apart.
“Her vault was very clean but the other event, floor, bars and beam, need some work,” said Grant-Brown.
Nevertheless, Grant-Brown thinks she has the potential to medal in vault at a NAC competition.
“If her execution score is so high, and she can maintain that and upgrade her vault skills, she will be a force to reckon with in other competitions. We believe she will succeed at the vault,” she continued.
She added that young local gymnasts have been inspired by David and JAGA will continue to expose young talent so they gain valuable experience, which will, in turn, improve the level of the sports domestically.
“Our locally trained youngsters are seeing the level they can get to. It’s really motivating them and they are putting out a lot more effort.
“We want to build our youngsters to be confident and positive, to know they can do as well and even better than the overseas gymnasts, once they get the right training and exposure.
“They are more focused and we see that some of our youngsters can get to this level at 14-15. And we will be giving them more experience and exposure to these competitions so it will build our local gymnastics.”
David, who was featured in the FIG promotion video, said she “put all of myself into it. And worked really hard to be the best I can be.”
“I am trying to take in everything and it feels amazing. It feels like everything I have worked for is finally like a dream is coming true to be here. And I am really excited I get to represent Jamaica,” said David.