Australia’s youngest and smallest member of the Youth Olympic Team has stood tall today in front of a vocal crowd at Bishan Sports Hall.

Her task was to complete four clean apparatus routines and she did that in fine style. The year 9 student from Melbourne qualified seventh for the All Around final on Thursday night and the beam and uneven bar finals on the weekend.

Donald's total score of 54.050 comprised; 13.250 on uneven bars, 14.400 on beam, 13.100 on floor and 13.300 on vault.

Donald was modestly pleased with her brilliance.

“Yeah it was quite good,” Donald said.

“My job was to deliver four solid routines and I did that. I was particularly happy with the beam - it’s my favourite.

“I had a lot of fun out there today. The crowd was cheering so much.”

Donald’s coach Shaoyi Jiang was also very happy.

“I’m very pleased with her,” she said.

“To have four top routines in only her second big international competition is so great.

“The place and scores don’t matter it’s how she performed that does. She did so well.”

Donald showed the composure of someone much older and looked very comfortable on the biggest stage of her promising career.

The judges appreciated Donald’s performances as much as the crowd and her total score of 54.050 was very close to her best ever.

Donald’s mum who has travelled up from Melbourne to watch her compete was very proud. 

“She did very well I’m very happy for her. She is such a good girl,” she said with a laugh.  

In the finals Donald would look to add a double pike to her beam dismount and perhaps there is improvement on her floor routine.

Andrew Reid
AOC