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For the first time in the sport’s history, Gymnastics Australia has recorded over 200,000 registered athlete members.

The milestone highlights a huge 2017 for the sport of balance, speed, flexibility, strength, control, and finesse, after the 2017 Artistic Gymnastics World Championships were broadcast live nationally in Australia for the first time in 12 years.

Seven-year-old Sophie Waddell, who attends Southern Canberra Gymnastics Club as a Level 1 Women’s Artistic Gymnastics athlete, was officially registered as Gymnastics Australia’s 200,000th athlete member for 2017 on Monday 23rd October.

Her milestone registration will officially be recognised tomorrow (Thursday 9th November) when Gymnastic Australia's Chief Exectuive, Mark Rendell; Jenny Priest, Director of Active Canberra, and Australian World Cup medallist, Canberra gymnast Naomi Lee, will make a special presentation to the young gymnast to celebrate the occasion.

Already in 2017, Gymnastics Australia has already exceeded the total number of athletes recorded in 2016 - 199,299 at a growth rate of 11.07% - meaning that 2017 marks the 17th year of continuous growth for gymnastics membership and participation in Australia.

On top of this figure, in excess of a further 1.1 million people are estimated to have participated in Gymnastics and other similar activities at our 607 affiliated clubs across Australia this year, meaning that the sport will have been exposed to over 1.3 million participants nationally this year.

Explaining how now is an exciting time for gymnastics in Australia, Rendell stated “gymnastics is a great sport for boys and girls, men and women of all ages to participate in, and with the recent rise in the profile of women’s sport at a mainstream level, there is no more exciting time than now to watch the continual rise of Gymnastics in Australia.

“At Gymnastics Australia we are excited to deliver programs that not only produce quality athletes at the highest level, but also actively target all Australians to live healthy active lives from an early age, with our fundamental movement-based programs.

“In addition to that, Gymnastics Australia now has almost 7,000 registered and professionally trained coaches across the nation, to ensure that Gymnastics continues to be accessible to all.”

Southern Canberra Gymnastics Club will also be presented with a Certificate of Achievement to mark the important event, with Rendell, Priest and Lee all in attendance for the presentations.

Southern Canberra Gymnastics Club President Bob Weight added “we’re thrilled that Southern Canberra Gymnastics has been able to deliver the 200 000th athlete registration for the first time in the history of our sport in this country.

“With over 1,200 registered athlete members, Southern Canberra Gymnastics Club is thriving and is reflective of the strength of the sport of gymnastics in Australia.”

A final tally for 2017 athlete membership to be released at the beginning of 2018.

This is the 17th year of continuous growth for gymnastics membership and participation in Australia. A further 1.1 million non-members have participated in the sport over the past 12 months; 1.3 million people have been active gymnastics participants in Australia over the past 12 months; a figure which ranks gymnastics as one of the most significant sports in Australia with one of the highest levels of participation.

From 22nd to 25th February 2018, the World Cup Gymnastics Melbourne will once again host a stop on the Individual Apparatus World Cup circuit for both Men’s and Women’s Artistic Gymnastics, while on 5th April2018 the Artistic Gymnastics starts it competition at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, with the Rhythmic Gymnastics Commonwealth Games competition beginning on 11th April next year. 

Lower image courtesy of Southern Canberra Gymnastics Club.

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