Genre: Gymnastics - National/international (upcoming 2011)
Location: Victoria, AU

Updated info coming soon

Scores
State:
VICTORIAN CHAMPION - TEAM - 2009
Victorian Floor Champion - 2009
Victorian Vault Champion - 2009
Silver Medalist - Bars - 2009
Runner-Up - Victoria National Level 4 - 2009

National:
AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL CLUBS CHAMPION TEAM - 2009
1st All Around - Australia – 2009
1st on Beam - Australia - 2009
2nd on Bars - Australia - 2009
3rd on Vault - Australia - 2009
4th on Floor - Australia - 2009 

Sarah is an elite gymnast at Waverley Gymnastics Centre in Victoria, Australia. At the age of 10, Sarah enrolled in a gymnastics program at her local school run by Tania and John Hart, the International Coach for Australian gymnasts who represented Australia at the 2008 Olympics held in Beijing.

Sarah was then invited for a trial of 3 months at his club – Waverley Gymnastics Centre and in January 2008 Sarah was accepted into the State stream at this prestigious, 5 star Club training 10 hours a week.

During 2008 Sarah competed at various competitions where she consistently received great individual and team results. At Victorian Championship Finals 2008 she was the Silver Medalist on Floor and her team was crowned Victorian Champion Team at State Level.

At the start of 2009, Simone Greig – Head Coach for National Stream invited Sarah to trial for a place in National Squad and during the 3 months trial; Sarah impressed her new coach and was happily accepted to join the squad.

Throughout the year Sarah’s devotion to excel in her chosen sport (training 22 to 25 hours a week) has given her incredible strength to not only catch up with her fellow gymnasts who have been training for 6-7 years but to rise and take a total of 24 medals (out of which 22 are gold medals) during the competition season.

At the 2009 Victorian Championships - Team and Individual Qualifiers Sarah placed 1st All Around in Victoria to qualify for the Finals. At the WG Victorian Championships Finals Waverley took out the Victorian Team Champion Title for 2009, taking gold medals at every apparatus! Sarah was crowned the Victorian Floor Champion and Victorian Vault Champion for 2009, also being the Silver Medalist on Uneven Bars. She was the Runner-up All Around.

At a friendly invitational competition in October in Sydney – Gymnastics Clubs of Australia 2009 Cup – Sarah’s first competition interstate, she took the title of GCA Cup All Around Champion at National Senior Level 4 category.

Sarah’s Coach Simone Greig excitedly reported:
“Sarah’s commitment to her chosen sport is second to none! She is a true inspiration to coach and her achievements throughout 2009 have been simply outstanding, being crowned the Victorian Vault and Floor Champion, as well as being part of the Waverley winning Victorian Champion Team. Sarah is also first to help out both her coaches (myself and Sasha Vildanov) and fellow gymnasts and to see that sparkle in her eyes shows how much love for the sport she has!”

Due to her great results, Waverley Gymnastics Centre selected Sarah and her Team to represent the Club and the state of Victoria at WG National Clubs held in Canberra AIS on 1st -2nd December – a prestigious event that allows each Club in Australia to be ranked in each level and all around in National Stream.  Sarah qualified 1st All Around with a total score of 58.600. At the Finals, Sarah placed 1st All Around in Australia yet again with a combined total scoring of 117.250 points.  She also took 1st Place on Beam in Australia, and her team was crowned the 2009 Australian National Team Champions!

She has already started training with IDP coach Janie Ahlstrom, gradually increasing her training hours to 28 per week. Sarah’s Developing Coach Simone encouraged her to take the plunge into the unknown and her last remarks before Sarah departed from her were so emotional due to the bond the two of them formed this year:
“I am sincerely going to miss not coaching you” she told Sarah, “but at the same time I wish you the very best in your future.  I hope I have given you enough to take you to the top and I hope that I have had a lasting effect on you not only in the gym but in life”.

Sarah is mature enough to recognise she is the first Romanian background girl from Australia to be given the chance to prepare for future World Championships and Olympic Games.