GYMANSTICS: Danielle Prince has a plan to dazzle the crowd come Rio, with her eye on making her Olympic debut in less than a year’s time.
The 23-year-old is working hard to make sure she’s selected next year to wear the green and gold in rhythmic gymnastics.
Prince took up the sport at the age of 11 after eight years dancing.
“My dance teacher suggested I take it up because I was naturally flexible,” she said.
“I was very late into gymnastics. Most of my competitors started at 7 or 8 years old.”
That lateness may have helped the Prince prolong her career, still competing 12 years on.
“I’m currently the eldest Aussie athlete competing in the sport. I think the closest to me is about 20.
“Being a slightly older athlete I’ve been working on my body and strength and conditioning with Pilates and weights sessions. I think it’s definitely helped with longevity in the sport.”
She names her career highlight as the 2010 Commonwealth Games where Australia won its first rhythmic gymnastics team gold medal.
“All three Australian gymnastics disciplines won gold. It was pretty amazing to be a part of.”
The last 12 months have been busy for the jet-setting gymnast, with the first half of the year spent living in the United Kingdom.
“I’ve been living and training in the same place for six or seven years. It was good to get over there for personal development, it was like a refresher.
“Living over there also made it much easier to train and compete in Europe. To be close to Europe is obviously an advantage with European athletes obviously dominating the sport.”
The 2007 AYOF competitor spent the middle of 2015 back at home with her family in the eastern suburbs of Brisbane and competed at the Australian Championships at the end of May.
“It was really successful for me. I won all six gold senior divisions. It was really icing on the cake.
“I then went to the Budapest World Cup and then onto Stuttgart, Germany.”
Competing at the World Championships in Germany was another achievement to add to a growing list of accolades for the Queenslander.
Prince finished a respectable 78 out of 143 competitors with a total of 42.725.
“It was excellent. The venue was beautiful and I was happy with my performance too,” she said.
“I made a mistake in my ball routine but luckily only three scores count out of the four apparatus in the all-around so that was okay.
“It was uncharacteristic mistake, very frustrating on an easy skill.
“I think it’s important to go back and analyse the routine, where little mistake happen. The smallest of margins are important, the timings need to be perfect.”
Looking ahead to the next year, with a spot on the Rio team on the line, Prince will be leaving nothing to chance.
“In the lead up to next year in December I’ll be going to Finland to receive new choreography for all four routines. From there I’ll spend I month in Finland working on those changes and intense preparation.
“Then it’s onto the Pacific Rim Championships in April and then hopefully a few World Cups in Europe.
“Being seen by international judges is vital before Rio.”
And it seems that there’s no time for rest for Prince in the next 9 months.
“I’m currently trying to balance university exams with training.
“I training 28 hours a week, so about 6 days. I also work at a local primary school in administration. And then I’m studying teaching at the University of Queensland.”
It’s a sport full of sacrifice for both Prince and her family.
“I live at home with my family. I couldn’t do it without their help. Five years ago we specifically moved house to be closer to my gym.”
But it will be worth it if Prince is successful in making her debut at next year’s Games.
“Rio has been my goal since I started. Words couldn’t describe the honour if I’m selected. It’d be such an honour to represent my country at one of the world’s biggest sporting events.”
Australia expects to have one gythmic gymnast compete at the Games, with selection expected to be announced mid-2016.