The Tribune

GYMNASTICS Federation of the Bahamas (GFB) head coach Trevor Ramsey, coach Levette Saunders and Nassau ‘Nastics’ gymnasts Rashad Cunningham and Simone Hall recently attended the 2014 Pan American Olympic Festival in Guadalajara, Mexico.

The intense workshop, attended by Ramsey and Saunders, and the competition, featuring Cunningham and Hall, lasted for eight days.

This is the first time the GFB has been represented at an Olympic Festival, which attracted over 120 participants from 22 nations with each country allowed to enter only one women’s and one men’s gymnast with accompanying coach, judge and delegates.

The festival consisted of five rigorous eight-hour days with training workshops in the Nissan Sporting Complex after which a three-day competition was held.

The Bahamian contingent found the experience very beneficial.

The gymnasts observed their competitors to be highly skilled, many training at the elite level.

“These athletes were definitely the best from each country. They performed with ease and experience that demonstrated they were no strangers to international high level competition,” said coach Ramsey.

The GFB expects that this experience will aid with the growth and development of the higher-level gymnastics training here in the Bahamas.

The Pan American Olympic Festival is staged to aid the participating countries with their preparations for the upcoming Senior Pan American Championships to be held in Canada later this month.

The Bahamas will have three gymnasts competing in this prestigious event - Simone Hall and Toneka Johnson from the Nassau ‘Nastics and Kianna Dean, a prior member of the Bahamas Gymnastics Parent’s Booster Club, now training in the USA.

The Senior Pan Am Championship is a qualifier for the Pan Am Sports Games that are scheduled for August, 2015.