Gymmin' Miel!

"We're very excited to welcome Nikola to the Gym Terp family,” head coach Brett Nelligan said. “The team and staff have been eagerly awaiting her arrival all summer. She is a well-rounded gymnast excelling on vault and beam, and her bar routine is among the most difficult in the world. Nikola’s experience competing on the world stage will serve her well in the collegiate arena."

A double twisting Yurchenko vault executed by only a few of the best gymnasts in the world, could be Nikki Chung's ticket to the London Olympics - just 18 months after making her debut for Australia.

The 16-year-old has leapt into contention with recent performances on the vault and bars. She hopes to join WAIS training partners Lauren Mitchell and Emily Little in London.

Senior WAIS coach Martine George said Chung was a relative late starter in gymnastics and was being provided plenty of chances before the Australian championships and Olympic selection trials in Sydney from May 21.

 Her next international assignment is the World Cup in Zagreb, Croatia, starting tomorrow.

 "She is just one of three Australians, along side Lauren and Emily, who stand out with their vaults, but she is also a very strong competitor on the bars," George said of Chung. 

Chung has come back from an elbow injury to be in a position to make the Olympic team, at the same time as completing a full TEE load at Presbyterian Ladies' College, where she is a student.

The remainder of the WAIS squad, which has been boosted by the return of Beijing Olympian Olivia Vivian from a US college, are midway through a heavy training phase, with national coach Peggy Liddick this week working with Little, Mitchell and Vivian.