Gym team relishing best-ever moment
Considering excitement, one could have mistaken the athletes on our Canadian women’s artistic Gymnastics team had won a medal Tuesday at the North Greenwich Arena after earning Canada’s best-ever Olympic performance: a noteworthy fifth.
“I’m ecstatic. This is so crazy,” said gymnast Ellie Black. “It’s been amazing, this whole experience of going to the Olympics at 16 years old.”
Black and her teammates Victoria Moors, Dominique Pegg, and Kristina Vaculik range in age from 15 to 20-years-old. When all the points were tallied Canada earned a 170.84 in the competition, just 12.792 points behind gold medallist U.S.
Black offers a simple explanation of what drives her and her teammates: “I think we all do it because we love it. I know to most people it’s probably crazy but I enjoy gymnastics so much and I wouldn’t be doing it if I didn’t.”
Her teammate Vaculik shared the sentiment.
“I was training five to six hours a day and (my friends) didn’t really get it,” she said. “Kids my age, they like to go out, hang out and party. For me it was just strictly training and my weekends were spent catching up on school.”
Canada’s gymnasts will now go on to compete in their individual competitions.
