Robert on the Rings
16 year old Robert Watson competed at the Junior Pan-American Championships in Aracaju, Brazil in early November where he was the most successful male athlete of the 4 member Canadian Team. The Team finished 4th place behind Brazil, USA and Columbia.
Robert did not only finished 8th in the All Around competition but also qualified for three event finals (Floor, Rings, High Bar). After his great performance he ended up 5th on High Bar, 6th on Rings and 7th on Floor.
Out of over 15 countries in the competition there were only 5 spots available for all North, South and Central America to qualify for the first ever Youth Olympic Games in 2010 in Singapore. Robert, being in the top three amongst the 16 year olds, earned the right for Team Canada to be able to send one athlete for the games. Coach Ferenc Szabo Jr. says “It was a great experience for him and was very nice to see him to compete with so much confident being under pressure, but I guess that all the hard work he went through during the preparation finally paid off. Having him to earn a spot for Canada is also something that I’m really proud of.”
Watson placed fourth all around last month at a tri-nation meet against the U.S. and Germany in Colorado Springs and prevented an American sweep in the apparatus finals by tying for gold on the high bar. Watson’s high bar routine includes a triple-twisting double layout dismount that is only performed by a handful of the world’s top gymnasts. Other members of Richmond Gymnastics are also performing on the high end. 17 year old Junior National Team member Jason Scott was selected recently to represent Canada at the Valeri Luikin International competition that will be held in Texas, USA in the middle of December. Jason finished 3rd place at last year’s Canadian Championships and is a strong member of our Junior Team. Both Jason and Robert went through a lot of travelling this year for training camps in Canada, England, USA and China, but it doesn’t stop there! After the holiday season they will be travelling to London, England and Cancun, Mexico in early January and February with the rest of the Canadian Team to training camps to prepare together with the English and Japanese Teams.
“It’s been a great year for our club and athletes. Not only because of the results we could achieve, but also because it is a great environment for both young and old athletes to train together with 4 boys on the Age Group and Junior National Team in the program. We have over 20 boys in the competitive program who are happy and willing to work hard in order to try to achieve their dream in the sport of gymnastics. It makes me happy to see that we have a good selection of boys that we can build on in the future.” says coach Ferenc Szabo Jr.