Caitlin Rooskrantz is back at training at Johannesburg Gymnastics Centre

Caitlin Rooskrantz is happy her gymnastics club has reopened and is training hard now for the Tokyo Olympics.

The Olympic Games was moved to July and August next year in light of the coronavirus pandemic and there is still a chance the event could be scrapped entirely. Rooskrantz, who qualified for the Olympics, played a key role in fundraising for the Newlands-based Johannesburg Gymnastics Centre (JGC) when it faced financial difficulty during the lockdown.

She helped kick off and run a handstand challenge on the BackaBuddy website that saw the community donate a total of R80 000 by sponsoring gymnasts to do handstands. When the lockdown Level 3 regulations were relaxed and the gymnastics centre reopened, Rooskrantz did not hesitate to return to training. “I am very happy to be back, it has been a long three months away,” Rooskrantz told Northcliff Melville Times.

“The Olympics is still very much on my mind. It is my biggest goal and now it will take more time to get back up to the level I was at when I qualified for it.” She explained that JGC gymnasts trained at home and during the lockdown with a revised programme and online Zoom classes. “We did not have apparatus at home but we did lots of stretches and worked on our fitness. But it is not the same without the apparatus.”

Details: Johannesburg Gymnastics Centre jgcgymnastics@absamail.co.za; 083 634 6164.

Also read: Caitlin Rooskrantz appeals to public to help her club send her to the Olympics