JADE MARTIN
Image from Perthnow. From the 2007 Australian National Championships. Left to Right - Olivia Vivian, Dasha Joura, Jade Martin, Lauren Mitchell.
I always loved Jade's gymnastics, and after her retirement, I was bummed that she never got the chance to compete at an Olympics, but all that could change.... I saw this article on InMyCommunity.com.au back when it was published on the 12/06/2012 but unfortunately I had not gotten around to linking to it here. Good luck to her on her new endeavor and how exciting it is!! Below article and image can be found from the source here.
JADE Martin is hoping to represent Australia in skeleton at the 2014 Winter Olympics.Having had her first taste of the sport only last year, she will head overseas to compete on the international circuit this October.Looking to spend five months in Europe, America and Canada with her fellow WA team mates, the 21-year-old said she never dreamed she would have another chance to compete at the Olympics after a back injury forced her to retire from the Australian gymnastics team in 2008.“About three months before I was meant to head to Beijing, I was forced to retire due to stress fractures in my back,” Martin said.“My old coach told me about the try-outs for bobsledding last November, so I thought I’d give it a try.”She qualified for the WA skeleton team – a fast sliding winter sport that propels athletes down a frozen track facing down using a small sled.But Martin did not actually make her track debut until March this year, when her team went to New York for the International America’s Cup race.All achieving a ranking within the top 100 in the world, she said she was keen to continue in the sport. “Skeleton gives me the same adrenaline rush that gym did,” she said.