Australian Girls to Focus on Training Rather Than Competitions for the Next Few Months

The Australian national women's team is currently attending a training camp at the Australian Institute of Sports in Canberra. Apart from Ashleigh Brennan, who is not sure yet whether to continue in the sport or not, all the usual suspects are there, including stars Dasha Joura and Lauren Mitchell.


Dasha Joura, who sustained an ankle injury in Beijing, is finally back in action
(Photo: Jasmin Schneebeli-Wochner/Gymbox)

One of the goals of the camp is to determine which athlete will attend which competitions this year. According to the Gymnastics Australia website, head coach Peggy Liddick has announced that Australia will not attend the WOGA Classic and the Nadia Comaneci Invitational this year, "as we need to continue work on our new skills and programs." However, Lauren Mitchell will attend the Doha World Cup in April. It is also rumored that Emma Dennis and Amber Fulljames will attend Canada's Gymnix competition, but the GA website makes no mention of this.

Apparently, another camp will be held in April, to select the candidates for the Pre-Olympic Youth Cup (to be held in Dusseldorf, Germany, May 23-25). Meanwhile, the remainder of the team will continue to train for the Australian Championships in Perth in July, where Liddick hopes Australia can also host a friendly with another country, to prepare the gymnasts for the 2009 Worlds in London and other European events held at that time of year (DTB Cup, Massilia Cup, Voronin Cup).

When questioned on the notion of routine/skill upgrades, Liddick only said, "I am very happy with some of the upgrades and there will be a few surprises to be revealed soon."

More information on the Australian girls' training camp can be found on Gymnastics Australia's website.