Melanie Banville knew she had to change the way she trained if she was to achieve her Olympic aspirations. Photo by Julie Oliver, The Ottawa Citizen. That's interesting: A member of Team Cornwall, a group of the top 100 business and community leaders devoted to selling Cornwall to the world; Team Cornwall has raised more than $8,000 for Banville to help cover her training costs; named Gymnastics Canada's female gymnast of the year for 2003-04; won the 2004 Olympic trials, after being fourth all-around at the Canadian senior championships, where she also was first in vault and bars and second on beam in the event finals; won the bronze medal on vault at the 2004 Pacific Alliance championships; trains with and competes against Olympic teammate Heather Purnell at the Ottawa Gymnastics Club, which was named 2004 club of the year by Gymnastics Canada; won bronze medal in vault at the Olympic test event in Athens; was fifth all-around at the Pan Am Games and fifth on bars and beam; was second all-around at the 2003 Canadian senior championships as well as first on vault, bars and floor and second on beam in event finals; her twin brother Eric also is a competitive gymnast. Olympic schedule: Women's artistic qualification, Aug. 15; women's team final, Aug. 17; women's individual all-around, Aug. 19; women's apparatus finals, Aug. 22-23.

Banville's change of plan reaps benefits

By Martin Cleary, The Ottawa Citizen, Saturday, August 7, 2004

A frank self-assessment of her future in artistic gymnastics was the turning point in Melanie Banville achieving her goal of competing in the Olympics.

When Melanie Banville reflects on her result at the 2002 Canadian gymnastics championships in Winnipeg, she views it as a bittersweet experience.

Finishing 19th in the women's senior high performance all-around competition (floor exercise, beam, bars and vault) was a humbling moment. It was a personal-worst performance for the rookie senior, especially when positioned beside the bronze medal she won in the junior high performance all-around at the 2001 nationals in Saint John, N.B.

But that negative 19th also carried a career-saving positive postscript.

At only age 14 -- and commuting almost every day to Ottawa from Long Sault -- Banville realized if she was going to go places in women's artistic gymnastics, she had to work harder and develop a new overall strategy.

"It didn't go right. I had to go back to the gym and change the way I trained and did my skills," said Banville. "I replay it over and over in my mind. It helps me know how I did and that I can perform a lot better the next time. It gave me a boost of energy."

Banville had hyperextended her left knee during training before the competition, which forced her to miss a period of training a month before the 2002 national championships and Commonwealth Games trials. "That summer, Heather Purnell made it to the Commonwealth Games. Seeing her go to the Games and me staying back ... I knew I should be there. That was hard. I wanted to work hard that summer and do much better," Banville said.

"By coming 19th, it made me realize I had to work harder to get to the Olympics. It was very difficult."

Her new strategy has paid off, and life in the chalk-covered gyms has never been better. Banville has produced some incredible results and honours in the past two seasons to qualify for the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.

Tobie Gorman, her coach at the Ottawa Gymnastics Club as well as a Canadian Olympic coach, knew Banville brought a lot of intensity and passion to practices and competitions. But she also realized something had to change after the 2002 national championships result.

"It was consistency for her. She struggled with training. She was unable to perform consistently every day," Gorman said. "She struggled. She's an emotional girl and had a full-blown reaction. I spent more time to calm her down to get her back to the gym."

Banville was intent on going to the 2004 Olympics, but she couldn't do it using the same strategic plan.

"She didn't want to go by car back and forth (from home to gym to home)," Gorman added. "It was exhausting. She had to figure out how it would work. Once she did, there was no holding her back."

At the start of the 2002-03 gymnastics season and academic year, she decided to move to Ottawa -- where she'd trained at the Ottawa Gymnastics Club since switching from the Cornwall Gymnastics Club at age six -- instead of spending almost 21/2 hours a day travelling to and from home four to five times a week.

She moved into the family home of a teammate and attended Lester B. Pearson for Grade 10. This was a big adjustment, but eventually brought stability to her life.

"It was very hard, but as the year went on, it got easier," she said. "As the days went by, it became a routine. I'm pretty independent."

This past season, Banville and her mother, who commutes daily to work in Ottawa, rented an apartment. Banville also transferred to Gloucester High School because of a special program for student athletes.

By eliminating the constant travel, her training increased to 25 hours a week and improved. Her school work didn't suffer either: she had an 85 per cent average for 2003-04.

She was named to the Canadian team for the Australian Youth Festival, where she was fourth on vault; was all-around champion at the Jurassic Classic in Calgary; and had international meets in Anaheim, California and Groningen, The Netherlands, before the 2003 Canadian championships.

A new and refreshed Banville stole the show at the nationals in Saskatoon. In only her second year as a senior, she placed second all-around and in the event finals was first in vault, bars and floor with a second on beam.

At the Pan Am Games and world championships team trials, she placed second all-around, which opened more doors of opportunity.

At the Pan Am Games, she earned a silver medal in team for Canada and made three event finals with fifths on bars and beam. She also played a key role in Canada, finishing 11th in the team competition at the world championships to qualify for the Athens Olympics. The top 12 teams advanced to the 2004 Games.

The 2003-04 season has been just as productive. She attended the Olympic test meet in Athens to see the equipment and get a feel for the environment. She also won the bronze medal in vault. At the Pacific Alliance championships in Hawaii, Banville repeated her bronze-medal performance in the vault and was seventh all-around.

Banville, who was named Gymnastics Canada's top female gymnast for 2003-04, dominated the event finals at the 2004 Canadian championships by winning the vault and bars and placing second in beam. She also was a disappointing fourth in the all-around competition. But she rebounded to win the intense two-day Olympic trials.

Winning bronze medals in vault at the Athens test event and at the Pacific Alliance meet was "a big surprise" for Banville.

"It was the first time I competed with my new vault (a Yuchenko with 1 1/2 twists)," she said. Those two bronze medals supported her Olympic goal of "making an event final."

But she'll face stiff competition from world champion Oksana Chusovitina of Uzbekistan, Monica Rosu of Romania, and Yelena Zamolodchikova of Russia for the medals.

"It will be hard at the Olympics because there's more people. But it would be amazing to achieve it (bronze medal) again," Banville said.

"It's a dream come true just competing against the whole world and representing your country. It's an amazing feeling and what I have been working for my whole life."

Once her Olympic experience unfolds, it's back to academic reality as she continues the process of selecting a university for 2005-06.

About eight American universities have shown interest and many are waving full athletic scholarships. Banville is allowed five visits under NCAA rules and has already put the University of Alabama, University of Utah, University of Florida and UCLA on her short list.

But first things first, studying for her Olympic exam.

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