Madeline Gardiner

Canadian gymnasts set to compete at Pan Am Junior Championships
Posted Thursday, November 5, 2009

Eight of Canada’s Olympic hopefuls in gymnastics are set to compete at  the 2009 Pan Am junior championships November 6-8 in Aracaju, Brazil.

Competitors at this year’s championship will also be trying to earn a berth for their country at the first-ever Youth Olympics this summer in Singapore.

The four-member men’s team consists of Robert Watson of Port Coquitlam, B.C., Ian Galvan of Calgary, Jaylan Birl and Tariq Dowers, both of Mississauga, Ont.

The team’s top medal threats are Birl and Watson, who finished 1-2 in the all around competition at the 2009 Canadian junior championships.

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.

Leading the Canadian women’s team is Dominique Pegg of Sarnia, Ont., a gold medal winner on vault at the last Pan Am Games held two years ago in Guatemala City.

Pegg, coming off a strong performance at one of the world’s top junior events in September in Yokohama, Japan, will compete alongside Rochelle Hurt of Mississauga, Ont., 2009 Canadian junior all around champion Anysia Unick of Calgary, and 2008 Canadian novice champion Madeline Gardiner of Cambridge, Ont.

At the last Pan Am championships in 2007 the Canadian women placed second overall behind the United States.

The competition includes team, individual all around and event finals.

Held every two years, the Pan Am championships also doubles this year as the continental qualifier for North, South and Central America for the Youth Olympic Games with six spots up for grabs in women’s gymnastics and five for the men.

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