Our chances in Gymnastics

July 14, 2008

An Olympic legend has an opportunity to make history at the Olympic Games.

Karen Cockburn, considered a Canadian icon in the sport of trampoline, will lead a strong contingent of Canadian gymnasts to Beijing in search of gold.

The 27-year-old Cockburn has been the best Canadian trampoline gymnast for a dozen years and will be representing her country for the third time at the Olympic Games. In Beijing she will be flirting with history, trying to become only the second Canadian athlete to win a medal in three successive Olympic Games competing as an individual.

The fact she is a medal contender this summer is not surprising. She was one of 12 women who competed in the Olympic debut of trampoline at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. Not considered a medal favourite, she won bronze. Four years later in Athens, she won a silver medal, becoming the first trampoline gymnast to win two Olympic medals.
    Ranked second in the world heading into Beijing, the Stouffville resident would join kayaker Caroline Brunet as a three-time Canadian medallist. Brunet won silver in 1996, silver in 2000 and a bronze in 2004 in the K-1 500m event.

In artistic gymnastics, Kyle Shewfelt will be looking to duplicate the 2004 gold-medal performance in floor exercise that he turned in in Athens. His initial Olympic experience came four years earlier in Sydney where he finished 12th in the floor event.

The Calgary resident had to overcome some adversity to make this year’s Olympic dream possible. The 26-year-old suffered two broken legs prior to the 2007 World Championships in Germany after misjudging a landing on the floor during a training session. After surgery and rehabilitation, he is focused on Beijing.

On the women’s side, Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs catapulted herself to the top of women’s artistic gymnastics in Canada after becoming the only Canadian woman to ever win a medal at a World Championship, capturing a bronze on beam in 2006.

In March of 2007 she captured a World Cup medal, the first ever for Canada since 1980 and now has five World Cup medals in her career -- two on beam and three on uneven bars.

The Toronto resident will be joined by Nansy Damianova of Montreal on the women’s team. Canada qualified just two women for individual events based on a 14th place finish at the 2007 World Championships in Germany.

Alexandra Orlando will pursue an Olympic medal for the first time in rhythmic gymnastics. A very strong 2007 season guaranteed the 21-year-old from Toronto a spot on the Canadian team. Her domination of the sport in Canada began in 2006 when she won six gold medals at the 2006 Commonwealth Games followed by three more at the 2007 Pan American Games, where she was selected as Canada’s closing ceremony flag bearer. Two months later, at the Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships in Greece, she placed 9th overall against 140 of the world’s best rhythmic gymnasts. She was the only rhythmic gymnast from either North or South America to ever break into the top-10.

Nearly 500 international gymnasts will compete at the 2008 Olympic Games, which includes 196 in artistic gymnastics. In the rhythmic event, 24 women will compete individually as well as 12 teams of six gymnasts. The target number for trampoline athletes is 196.