On his way to represent South Africa at the Youth Olympics
After a stellar performance at the African Championships in May this year, Ruan Lange will be jetting off to Buenos Aires next month.
One of Visions Gymnastics’ top gymnasts, 16-year-old Ruan Lange, has earned a spot at the prestigious Summer Youth Olympic Games set to take place next month.
Ruan initially started out with his gymnastics at Visions when he was nine years old, simply for fun. But as the years went on, he began taking part competitively and now at the age of 16 finds himself gearing up for the Summer Youth Olympics (YOG) in Buenos Aires next month.
Ruan takes part in the artistic forms of gymnastics, which means he operates on six different pieces of apparatus – the floor, the pommel horse, still rings, vault, the parallel bars, and the horizontal bars. Ruan was handed a chance, however minute, to represent South Africa at the YOG in October when he took part in the African Gymnastics Championships between 9 and 12 May.
In order to qualify for the YOG, Ruan had to finish as the top South African gymnast, which he did with ease by finishing third overall over in the men’s junior section as well as third on the rings, and second on the horizontal bar. Ruan was overjoyed with his performance, which helped catapult the South Africa gymnastics team into second place overall.
His qualification for the YOG meant that he would have to start putting in some serious hours of training. He has made sure he’ll be ready by churning out a staggering four-and-a-half hours of training a day for six days a week.
The YOG will be the biggest competition has taken part in, but regardless, he simply cannot wait. “I’m extremely excited for the competition because it’s the biggest competition of my career,” he said.
Ruan and his team will be jetting off to Buenos Aires on 1 October, with the competition starting five days later. The YOG will conclude on 18 October, and Ruan will head home on 20 October.
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