Local gymnast bound for Rio Olympic Games

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This article was published 30/06/2016 (3628 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It has been quite a week for Isabela Onyshko.

The 18-year-old Brandonite celebrated graduating from Vincent Massey High School on Friday before going to Gatineau, Que., for the Canadian Olympic gymnastics trials. On Wednesday, her dream of becoming an Olympian came true as she was named to the Canadian squad that will compete in Rio de Janeiro in August along with Ellie Black of Halifax and Brittany Rogers of Coquitlam, B.C.

“I was really happy,” the Brandon Eagles gymnast said from Gatineau. “It was definitely relief. I was pretty high up there in points. We were going into trials in a really good position, but it’s still a relief to hear your name announced.”

Gymnastics Canada used a point system based on how competitors fared at last year’s world championships, this year’s Elite Canada and Canadian championships as well as international events and the selection camp to determine the team members.

Onyshko won her first Canadian title earlier this month and had enough points to lock up a spot without having to compete on Wednesday, allowing her to rest her ankles and wrists, which have irritated her a bit recently. The announcement made Onyshko the first Manitoba gymnast to go to the Olympics since Lynette Wittmeier was an alternate in the 1988 Games in Seoul, South Korea.

She also became the first Brandonite to earn a spot at any Olympics since Angela Chalmers, a Neelin graduate who won a bronze medal in the women’s 3,000-metre race at the 1992 Barcelona Games. Dave Calder is the most recent Brandon-born Olympian. Calder, who was adopted by a family and grew up in Victoria, was on Canadian rowing teams in 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012.

Westman’s most recent Olympians were Virden’s Paige Lawrence and Rudi Swiegers, pairs figure skaters who went to Sochi, Russia two years ago.

Being put in the same category as those athletes is something that catches Onyshko off guard. She was lost for words when she heard herself described as a future Olympian.

“It was always my goal, but I don’t know. It’s weird when it comes down to it. It’s hard to explain,” Onyshko said.

The celebration will continue for a little bit for Onyshko. An official press conference will take place today in which the final two team members will be named before she returns home.

Onyshko is excited for the opportunity to compete in Rio from Aug. 7 to 16 and will have a level of comfort there as well. She competed at an event at the facility earlier this year.

One thing she will have to prepare for is being on the world’s biggest stage. She hopes to simulate that a little in her training back at the Brandon Eagles Gymnastics Centre before joining the rest of the national team for a weeklong training camp on July 25 in Sarnia, Ont.

“We’ll do a lot of pressure situations in the gym and showing routines and putting on the pressure because there will be a lot of pressure when we get there,” Onyshko said.

» cjaster@brandonsun.com

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