Gymnastics

Honiball, Van Zyl win gold for Namibia

Namibia hosted the African Gymnastics Championships for the first time in Walvis Bay in March and exceeded itself in organisational capacity as well as in honours achieved during the competition.

On March 5, Namibian gymnasts Robert Honiball and Kimberly Anne van Zyl created history by winning Namibia’s first-ever gold medals in the artistic gymnastics category at the African Gymnastics Championships.

Honiball won a gold medal in the Senior Men’s Rings final, while Van Zyl won gold in the Senior Women’s beam final.

FNB Namibia announced the support of the National Championships rhythmic gymnastics with an amount of N$ 20 000.00 on Tuesday, October 19. FNB Namibia has been an enthusiastic sponsor of gymnastics for the past four years.

Namibia Sport will bring you profiles of the athletes who will represent Namibia at the Commonwealth Games, which are scheduled to start on Sunday 3 October in New Delhi.

Namibia has a team of 30 athletes from 8 different sport codes who will be taking part in the Games.

Here are the profiles of the gymnastics team.

KIMBERLY ANN VAN ZYL

The 19-year old achieved a life long dream when she won a gold medal African Gymnastics Championships in Walvis Bay in March 2010.

Angelique de Klerk won the ladies advanced Eurotramp and the ladies Double Mini Trampoline in the 17 and over age group of the Third Qualifying Trampoline and Tumbling competition held in Walvis Bay recently.

De Klerk also achieved the highest scores in all the ladies trampoline events in all the age groups.

The judges awarded her a total score of 57.3 in the ladies advanced Eurotramp. Micaela Roux was first in the girls 9-10 age group with 54.1 points and Jivanka Kruger won the 13-14 age group with 50.6 points.

Rhythmic gymnast Anica Profit has become the latest addition to the team going to the Youth Olympics in Singapore this August. She qualified at the African Gymnastics Championships in Walvis Bay in March, which also served as qualifier for the Youth Olympic Games.

Namibian gymnasts Robert Honiball and Kimberly Anne van Zyl created history by winning Namibia’s first-ever gold medals in the artistic gymnastics category at the African Gymnastics Championships on Friday.

Honiball won a gold medal in the Senior Men’s Rings final, while Van Zyl won gold in the Senior Women’s beam final.

Honiball gave a great display of power and control to win the gold medal with 13,700 points, finishing just ahead of Mohamed Srour of Egypt and Wajdi Bouallegue of Tunisia who shared second place on 13,600 points.

Namibia will host the 10th Junior and Senior African Gymnastics Championships and the African Continental Games qualifiers for the 2010 Youth Olympics in Walvis Bay from 28 February 28 to 13 March.

Bank Windhoek is the main sponsor of the event that will see more than 400 gymnasts from an estimated 16 African countries competing for honours at the Walvis Bay Indoor Sport Complex.

Walvis Bay Municipality last week donated N$80 000 worth of gymnastics equipment to the Namibian Gymnastics Federation, as part of its ongoing support towards the development of the youth.

The equipment arrived at the Jan Wilken Sport Complex, where it was received by the president of the NGF, Valereis Geldenhuys Venter.

A delegation of almost 50 Namibians traveled to Pretoria, South Africa, on the 11th December to participate in the annual Zone 6 Gymnastics Competition. The 39 gymnasts brought prestige and pride to our country and our sport when they managed to win 15 overall medals, 13 team medals and 26 Individual Apparatus Medals.

The highlights for Namibia were the two overall gold medals which were won by Michel’le Solomons (senior girls – trampoline) and Anica Profitt (senior rhythmic gymnastics).

The first ever Youth Olympic Games will be held in August 2010 in Singapore and a young trampoline star from Walvis Bay will represent Namibia with the universality place in trampoline.

Michel’le Solomons, was chosen by the National Olympic Committee to compete in the trampoline section of the Youth Olympic Games. The news of her selection came as a big surprise to the NGF (Namibia Gymnastics Federation) and Fanie Oosthuizen, vice president of the NGF announced this achievement at the National Championships for Woman’s and Men’s Artistic Gymnastics.