Twins on a roll

High performance gymnastic twins, Riccardo and Gabriella Colandrea, have both continued their outstanding achievements of last year, with some exceptional performances thus far in 2013.

The Maragon pupils are the current Gauteng and SA Champions in their sections, and are listed on the South African Gymnastics Federation’s High Performance squad lists. Gabriella also received SA Federation colours at the end of 2012.

Riccardo is only eligible for SA Federation colours this year due to the fact that men and women gymnastic streams differ considerably.

Gabriella competed in the Gauteng Provincial Artistic Gymnastics Championship that was held in June. In the level she competed in, she achieved first place on the floor routine, second on the uneven bars, third on the beam, and was tied fourth place on the vault apparatus. At the end of this competition, Gabriella achieved silver overall, and was again awarded Central Gauteng Colours.

She then went on and represented the Central Gauteng Region at the South Africa National Championships, held in Pinetown, later the same month. At this event, where the competition is at the highest level in SA, Gabriella won gold on the vault, the uneven bars and the floor routine and achieved a fourth place on the beam routine. At the end of the championship Gabriella was awarded silver as the overall the runner-up by 0.05 points.

Riccardo Colandrea started his 2013 competition campaign competing in the Central Gauteng Gymnastics Association’s Regional Competition held in Kempton Park last month. In the class 2 section Riccardo achieved first place on the high bar, the floor and the rings. He also achieved second place on the pommel and vault with third place on the parallel bars. At the end of this competition, Riccardo was awarded the gold medal overall and received his Central Gauteng Colours.

He then represented the region at the Gauteng Provincial Competition on 24 August. Here he achieved first place on the floor and vault and second place on the pommel, rings and parallel bars.

Riccardo has qualified to represent Central Gauteng at the SA National Gym Games to be held in Pretoria later this month. During this competition, while competing at national level, Riccardo will also be given the opportunity to qualify as part of the South African Federation Team for a tour to Serbia at the end of the year.