Olympic and Commonwealth Games on the horizon

After live-streaming the bar routine she would have performed at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, local gymnast Caitlin Rooskrantz has set her sights on upcoming tournaments around the world.

The 18-year-old of Johannesburg Gymnastics Centre in Newlands hopes to add a few tricks and ‘upgrades’ to her routine when the Olympics is held in July and August next year. She would have been the first South African to compete in artistic gymnastics at the Olympics in 15 years, and must now wait until next year. But until then, Rooskrantz hopes to gain valuable experience at local events, especially as her ambitions do not stop at the Tokyo Olympics.

“Preparing for the Olympic Games is my main priority and focus now, thereafter there is the Commonwealth Games in 2022,” she told Northcliff Melville Times, saying it would be her first senior Commonwealth Games as she missed the competition in 2018. “That has also been a big goal for me, my entire career. Those are the next two big goals for me and from then on, hopefully if my body lets me carry on, there is Paris 2024 [Olympics].”

Furthermore, Rooskrantz plans to exercise her mind and study in 2022 and has been considering what to study and where to do so.

The video of Rooskrantz’ live-streamed Olympic bar routine is still available on YouTube here https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3&v=oQ-CTrV7SgU&feature=emb_logo After performing the routine, she said she was happy with how it went and that she finished clean.

This especially as she had little time to prepare for the routine as training at the centre in Newlands was not possible during the first few months of lockdown. The gymnast played a key role in fundraising for the Newlands-based Johannesburg Gymnastics Centre when it faced financial difficulty during the lockdown.