Sport
Tumbling up a path to fame
Pranesh Nageshwar
20May08
Celeste Loo is our latest Junior Sports Star nominee: PIC: Ann Moran
LIFE is gymnastics, all the rest is spare time.
Celeste Loo, 10, is the Hills Shire Times Junior Sports Star of the week and says that is exactly how she feels about the sport.
She says she likes gymnastics because "you need to use your whole body".
"You have to be really powerful while showing your grace at the same time," she said.
"After training gymnastics seriously for a while it made me realise anything is possible if I want to do it."
Celeste's interest in gymnastics sparked when she was four-years-old and saw a picture of a teddy bear doing cartwheels.
She tried cartwheels with great success and her mum noticed the talent and enrolled her in gymnastic classes as soon as she turned five, the minimum entry age.
Today her coaches believe she is on the path to international representation.
Celeste competes at junior international level 6 and at two state trials in April and May, finished first overall and placed in the top three on every individual apparatus. She finished first on both the floor and uneven bars apparatus at both competitions.
Celeste trains at the Castle Hill RSL Gymnastics Club with coaches Aliaksandr Kazhamiakin and Marnie Heming.
Club administrator Jane Cooke said Celeste trains 25 hours a week in women's artistic gymnastics and strives for perfection with every skill she attempts.
"She is to be commended for her hard work," Ms Cooke said.
"Celeste is the first female gymnast from Castle Hill RSL Gymnastics Club to reach this level of excellence," she said.
