Pinay gymnast eyes Rio Olympics

NANJING – The first Filipina gymnast to make it to the Youth Olympic Games is returning home with the fondest of memories.

“It’s really fun and I enjoyed everything. The girls here, the people here, the environment are awesome,” said Ava Lorein Verdeflor Saturday evening.

She concluded her memorable Youth Olympics experience with a clean routine in the finals of the uneven bars at the Nanjing Olympic Center Gymnasium.

Verdeflor, working hard under a Russian coach, earned 12.333 points to finish sixth among eight finalists that were culled from a huge field of 32 YOG qualifiers.

 Russian Seda Tutkhalyan won the gold with 13.575 while Italian Iosra Abdelaziz clinched the silver with 13.366. Chinese favorite Yan Wang settled for the bronze at 13.066.

The lone track and field bet for the Philippines, Zion Rose Nelson, finished fourth in Finals B of the 400 meters. She clocked a personal best of 55.32 seconds.

Nelson is 16-year-old student from Canada who came here with his father and coach Steven Nelson.

Ukraine’s Yana Kachir topped the Finals B race in 54.48 followed by Jamaica’s Tiffany James at 54.54 and Venezuela’s Maria Simancas at 54.92.

The gold in the 400 meters went to Australia’s Jessica Thornton who clocked 52.50.

Verdeflor is based in Texas where she is enrolled at the prestigious World Olympic Gymnastics Academy headed by his coach here, Yevgeny Marchenko.

At the end of the competition, the 15-year-old Verdeflor said she looked forward to representing the Philippines in more international competitions like the SEA Games and the Asian Games.

 She’s also hoping to make it to the 2016 Rio Olympics.

“Definitely. Hopefully in Rio,” said Verdeflor, who tried hard to contain the pressure of performing last in the finals witnessed by a big crowd at the 13,000-seat venue.

“The final day, it was very stressful. The pressure was really there but I tried not to get to me. I tried to relax and stay positive, be happy and do the best that I could do,” she said.

“I really try to push it (pressure) out and just enjoy it.”

“I’m very, very, very happy and proud of Ava. The score was probably low because she did a clean routine. But it’s the Olympic Games. It’s okay,” said Marchenko.

The Philippines fielded seven athletes in six sports in this YOG participated in by 202 nations and 3,600 athletes that vied for 222 gold medals in 28 sports.

In the 2010 YOG in Singapore, the Philippines sent nine athletes in five sports and did not win a medal.

First to bow out for Team Philippines was triathlete Vicky Deldio followed by swimmer Roxanne Yu, shooter Celdon Jude Arellano, archer Bianca Gotuaco, Nelson and Verdeflor.