Athens trail hits home for duo

By Rob Brodie, Ottawa Sun, March, 2004

The road to Athens makes a brief pit stop in Ottawa this week. At least for six aspiring Olympic hopefuls in women's gymnastics, who'll begin preparing for the sneak peek they'll soon get at the Greek venue each hopes to revisit again in late August. That's when the world's best gymnasts will convene at the 17,500-seat Olympic Indoor Hall in Athens for the 2004 Summer Olympics.

You might say it all starts this week at the Ottawa Gymnastics Centre. That's where a training camp will be held, starting tomorrow, for the Canadian contingent headed to Athens next week for a pre-Olympic test event.

The group includes Heather Purnell and Melanie Banville of the Ottawa Gymnastics Club. They're joined by Amelie Plante of Montreal, Calgary's Kylie Stone, Melanie Tham of Mississauga and Toronto's Lydia Williams.

After a six-day training session -- including a competition simulation on Wednesday morning -- they're off to Athens on Saturday. The test event runs March 17-21.

For Banville and Purnell, currently ranked No. 1 and 2 in Canada respectively, the test event represents a key step on the path toward their Olympic dreams.

Even if it isn't part of the actual qualification process.

"It's a tremendous opportunity for them," said OGC coach Tobie Gorman. "It'll give them a lot of information and a chance to experience the venue and the equipment there. It's a really good preparation step."

The presence of two Ottawa athletes on the team made OGC a natural pick for this week's camp, said Gymnastics Canada president/CEO Jean-Paul Caron.

"We look at where the girls are coming from," said Caron, also noting the team's flight to Athens leaves from nearby Montreal. "The facility is good and it was available to us."

Also at stake this week are invitations to the Pacific Alliance Championships, a major international meet slated for April 15-18 in Honolulu, Hawaii. Only four girls will be picked, and Caron said their performance at this week's camp will be a determining factor.

As for the real Olympic qualification process, it starts June 3-6 with the Canadian championships in Mississauga. From there, Caron said a pool of 10 athletes will be identified and move on to the final Olympic trials July 11-12 in Toronto.

Only six will make the final cut for the Athens Games, though a seventh will be brought along as a spare.

Gorman said it's important to note that it won't be a matter of simply selecting the six top all-around finishers at the trials.

"The main goal is to do well as a team," she said. "(Gymnastics Canada) will literally look at how each girl can contribute in each (apparatus) event.

"It's about how they can contribute to get the biggest team total (score) that Canada can get."

In other words, a gymnast who's superb on two apparatus and strong on a third would likely have a great shot at an Athens ticket. Turns out Purnell and Banville can fill that bill. Both are extremely strong on vault and floor exercise, Gorman said, with Purnell also excelling on balance beam and Banville being a standout on uneven bars.

At Elite Canada in Mississauga in December, Purnell finished first overall for the second straight year, followed by her clubmate. Purnell was tops in vault and second on floor, while Banville led the way on the floor, and earned silvers for her vault and beam routines.

Sounds like the kind of versatility Canada is looking for after emerging from the Olympic qualification process with full women's and men's teams for the first time in 24 years.

"They're among the top group, both Heather and Melanie," said Caron.

Now their road hits close to home.

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