Riccardo soars in Namibia
Riccardo helped his team achieve a great result in Namibia
With his sights set on the 2018 Youth Olympics Trials, Visions Gymnastics’ rising star Riccardo Colandrea has shown what he’s made of.
While representing South Africa at the Youth Commonwealth Gymnastics International in Namibia earlier this month, Riccardo helped his team to a silver medal, finishing second overall. He also bagged a bronze medal on the rings, after making the finals of four events, including the pommel horse, horizontal bars and parallel bars.
The competition featured the disciplines of Men’s Artistic, Women’s Artistic, Trampoline and Rhythmic gymnastics. Riccardo competed in the Men’s Artistic category.
More than 20 countries, including Australia, Sri Lanka, India and the Bahamas had representatives competing in the international event.
“Being in Namibia was an awesome experience – the country is beautiful. The competition itself was mentally challenging because there are so many routines you have to go through. Added to that we’re trying to perform well for the team and make as few mistakes as possible, but that is why we train. We train so hard throughout the year that when it pays off it’s great. Now I have to keep my focus, train hard and remain motivated so I can excel at the trials in Egypt,” said Riccardo.
His coach, Derrick Schultz, who was also the national team’s manager is proud of his talented young gymnast and said Riccardo’s performances were stunning. “For Riccardo to do well in Namibia is great preparation for him to compete at the 2018 Youth Olympics trials that will be held in Egypt. This competition allowed us to assess where he can improve and fine-tune his performance,” said Derrick.
Visions Gymnastics had another gymnast, Ruan Lange, who made the team, but he had to withdraw due to an injury.
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