Madeleine Johnson is flying high after being selected for Australia to compete at the World Trampoline Championships in Quebec City, Canada, in November.By Marc McGowan
BERWICK’S Madeleine Johnson will represent Australia for the fourth time when she competes at the World Trampoline Championships in Quebec City, Canada, in November.
The promising teenager is a multiple national champion in her age group and has also had much success at international level.
Johnson, 14, finished third at the world titles in 2005 and won gold at the Indo Pacific Championships in South Africa last year.
“I love travelling to competitions and meeting new people and the atmosphere is great,” she said.
“It is an individual sport, but you still get to be part of a team.”
The year eight Haileybury College student has been involved in trampolining for six years after competing as a talented gymnast.
A debilitating struggle with juvenile arthritis forced her to give up on her gymnastics dreams, but she had already begun forging a successful career in trampolining.
“I had to leave because of it, but it was really subtle. It was gradual because I was already doing tramp,” Johnson, who also won an Associated Private Schools diving title in April, said.
“The arthritis doesn’t affect me so much any more because it’s better than it used to be.
“It used to hurt my hands mainly with gym, but in tramp it’s my ankles.”
Trampolining involves athletes performing acrobatics in a variety of positions, with differing degrees of difficulty.
Five judges tabulate individual scores out of 10, with the lowest and highest scores disregarded.
The degree of difficulty of the routine is then added to the three judges’ scores to produce the final total.
Johnson was the only Australian in her age group to reach the automatic world championship qualifying score of 33 at the national titles last month.
She trains five times a week at Cheltenham Youth Club in Braeside, with each session lasting two-and-a-half hours.
Johnson has extra motivation for this year’s world championships after a severely broken leg prevented her from qualifying for January’s Youth Olympics in Sydney.
Her mother Jodie is extremely proud of her daughter’s feats and believes they have come from her steadfast dedication to the sport.
“Madeleine’s very focused and she works out really hard – she’s pretty amazing,” Jodie said.
With Johnson’s previous success on the world stage, she has high expectations for the world championships, but will also be looking to enjoy herself.
“Representing Australia is pretty nerve-racking. You get really nervous, but once you’re over there you feel really good about it,” she said.
“I want to try and do my best and try to have fun at the same time. I’m hoping to be up in the top 10.”
Trampolining, which comes under the banner of Gymnastics Victoria, suffers from having no sponsorship and all trips are self-funded.
Jodie has been on the campaign trail to raise money for Johnson’s world championships sojourn to Canada and any help from local businesses would be much appreciated.
Jodie Johnson can be contacted by mobile on 0407 791 214.
