It’s been over two decades since South Africa hosted an international artistic gymnastics event but that is about to change as the country gears up to host the first African Safari Gymnastics competition at the end of July.
Japan, Wales, Bangladesh and Britain have all accepted South Africa’s invitation to compete in this event.
Japan will be competing with a full complement of men and women’s teams. Shuichiro Kawaguchi, Minister-counsellor and the Deputy head of Mission at the Japanese Embassy says that the participation of Japan in this competition is an extension of the good relationship between the two countries.
“South Africa and Japan are good friends and we enjoy the relationship. South Africa is very important, and sports are a good example of relationship between countries. I believe in South Africa and that their young people have great talent. With gymnastics, Japan is a little bit ahead but if you look at sports like rugby, here South Africa is ahead of Japan – but Japan is eager to catch up as is SA with gymnastics.”
South Africa also participates in an exchange program where gymnasts and coaches benefit from training and preparation for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.
The partnership between the South African Gymnastics Federation (SAGF) and the Japanese Gymnastics Association (JGA) commenced in 2015 when Morinari Watanabe, the then secretary of the JGA and member of the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) pledged a six year support to the SAGF to improve the standard of Olympic level gymnastics in South Africa.
Wales and Bangladesh will be represented by women’s teams and the 2014 Youth Olympic Games Men’s champion, Giarnni Regini-Morgan, will also be competing in the Safari competition.
South Africa will field two national women’s teams, and Gauteng Provincial women’s team. The South African men will have one team and some individual specialists.
This event will be the first major event after the South African gymnasts competed in the 14th Continental African Championships and Youth Olympic Qualifier earlier in May. The 2018 African Champs was hosted in Namibia, where seven African countries competed with a total of 80 artistic gymnasts ranging from juniors to seniors.
South Africa’s Lisa Conradie was the star performer of the Junior Women’s Individual competition by winning silver overall. In the apparatus finals, Conradie bagged two gold medals for Uneven Bars and Beam, a silver medal for floor and bronze medal for vault.
“I’m very excited for this Safari competition because I love new competitions and new challenges. I can’t wait to see all the different athletes competing. Gymnastics is my passion, and even though it takes a lot of hours in the gym, I’ve loved it ever since I was three and I still love it now,” she says.
Conradie qualified in first position to represent South Africa at the Youth Olympics to be held in Argentina later in the year alongside SA’s Ruan Lange in the men’s division.
Lange says he loves gymnastics because in he believes it’s the most difficult sport in the world. “I’m proud to say that I am a gymnast because the combination of strength and flexibility to perform the skills that we do takes a lot of work and dedication. You need six days a week, we train four and a half hours every day… sometimes you miss some parties, but you have to give up on some of your social life, to perform as a professional gymnast.”
“I think this competition is a very good opportunity because it’s putting us in a place where we can compete against professional gymnasts from Europe, who we can’t normally compete against because they are really far away. I’m also excited with Japan coming because they’re the best country in the world with regards to gymnastics.”
South African duo Lukisha Schalk and Gabriella Murray tied for 1st place in the Senior Women’s Floor Finals. Schalk went on to shine in the Beam apparatus, bringing home gold for South Africa. She is currently in her final year of school says that you need passion and determination to balance life with the demanding sport of gymnastics.
“It is quite a difficult sport, and it does require a lot of confidence in yourself. You’ve got to know how to motivate yourself and it takes a lot of training and sacrifices as you have to sacrifice a lot of your time. We train every single day from Monday to Saturday and sometimes leading up to a competition we add in extra hours on a Sunday.”
“I love it – because it is a challenging sport and it allows you to push you past your limits. It also allows you to gain confidence not only in yourself but also to be able to show off to other people and inspire them as well.”
South Africa’s Aidan Maguire is also in matric and says that even though he does not get a lot of sleep at night due to juggling school with the sport, gymnastics is his passion…
“It’s different than everything else, it is amazing, you do not get the fear… or the energy that you get from this sport is so much different. I have very high expectations for this competition because it is at my local gym and I’m finally competing against the heroes I wanted to always meet.”
Derick Scholtz, Convenor of the Local Organising Committee says that it is imperative to bring international gymnastics to the country as it benefits South African gymnastics in a whole.
“The international competition is a different level of competition. Our gymnasts are all used to the local competitions, we know the judges, we know the environment and they don’t get nervous anymore – but in the international scene is where we normally qualify for the Olympics Games. So if you don’t have international exposure, you don’t get that level of experience – it’s vitally important that they get international competition.”
Scholtz says that in addition, many South African judges do not get enough opportunities to adjudicate at international events, another opportunity created by the African Safari competition.
The last time South Africa hosted an international competition was when East European gymnasts from Belarus took part in a mixed pairs competition at the University of Pretoria in 1992.
The first African Safari Gymnastics competition will take place at the Centurion Gymnastics club in Tswane on the 20th and 21st of July.
Watch the video report below:
