Leigh Lehane & Roisin O'Shea
Article by Rick O'Mahony - Head of Delegation
Over 350 gymnasts from 30 countries competed at the weekend in the 6th World Age Group Games in Acrobatic Gymnastics. Ireland were represented by 5 gymnasts, Leigh Lehane & Roisin O’Shea of Ballincollig Gymnastics club under coach John O’Mahony in the 11-16 Girls Pairs category, and Aine McGoff, Rebecca Holohan & Emma O’Byrne of Carlow Gymnastics club under coach Aimi Baker in the 11-16 Girls Groups category.
The format of these competitions is that each pair or group perform 2 qualifying routines (one balance and one dynamic) with the top 8 combined scores qualifying for the final.
First up on the Saturday morning were the trio of Aine, Rebecca & Emma who scored a very respectable 25.75 to place them 19th of the 27 competitors. Later in the morning session Leigh & Roisin took to the floor and scored a personal best score of 27.55 to leave them in 4th place after the first round of qualifiers.
The second round of qualifiers took place early on the Sunday morning (the first routines on the floor started at 9.00am local time), and Leigh & Roisin performed a very creditable dynamic routine scoring 26.90 for a combined total of 54.45 and comfortably qualified for the finals in 5th place behind Belarus, Great Britain, Russia & Portugal, and ahead of Poland, USA & Czech Republic. Aine, Rebecca & Emma improved on their first day’s performance and scored 25.95 for their balance routine to maintain their ranking of 19th in the competition.
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The finals in these competitions consist of a single routine of the competitors’ choice and the qualifying scores are discarded and everyone starts from zero. The finals were shown live on Polish television on the Monday morning, but Leigh & Roisin held their composure scored 26.95 to maintain their 5th place ranking just 0.3 behind the bronze medal winners from Belarus. This was our second consecutive 5th place finish in the World Age Groups (Sara Rennick & Tricia Sloyan finished in 5th in 2008), with great credit due to National Squad director Roisin Kavanagh and all our senior acrobatic gymnastics coaches around the country for helping to achieve and maintain the high standards and rankings that we have attained on the World stage. Leigh Lehane has made the transition from being a very successful top ( 8th at the European Age Groups in 2007 with her partner Kim O’Brien) to a highly talented base, while Roisin O’Shea has moved from being an NDP Level 2 top in her club to performing live on TV at a World Finals in 8 short months. This was an awful lot to expect from an 11 year old, but to her credit she has taken it in her stride.
A report on this competition would not be complete without a special word for our National Judging coordinator Jackie O’Herlihy. Jackie is a Level 1 Brevet judge and her services were much in demand this weekend, and of the 35+ judges who were in attendance Jackie was of the few called on to judge at every session for the three days which was no mean feat considering that the first routine was on the floor at 9.00am in the morning and the final routine of the day was completed at 8.35pm in the evening, with only two 90 minute breaks and two 15 minute breaks between sessions.
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