Gymnastics: Robertson gets big chance

By TERRY MADDAFORD

Sydney 2000 is a one-off chance for Laura Robertson to give an Olympic Games her best shot.

Robertson, who will be joined by David Phillips as New Zealand's only gymnasts in Sydney, knows this will be it.

"Unless I'm selected for another sport down the line - and that's unlikely - this will be my one and only Olympics," said Robertson, who last month was named as one of five Herald Junior Sports Award winners for 1999 and yesterday had her Olympic selection confirmed by the New Zealand Olympic Association.

While she holds no great medal hopes - even making the top 50 will require an outstanding effort - Robertson is doing all she can to ensure she is ready for the biggest challenge in her 12 years in the sport.

"I have taken a year off to concentrate on the Olympics," said 18-year-old Robertson, who plans to go to university next year. "It has been really hard as we have had no competitions since last October."

Training up to 33 hours a week under coach Alex Koudinov, Robertson sees the bars as her best apparatus, with the floor and beam as her next best.

Robertson is the first New Zealand female gymnast to be selected for an Olympics since Angela Walker competed in the rhythmic competition in Seoul in 1988.

She will have her first competitive outing since last year's world championships, where she finished 74th and was the highest-placed New Zealander ever at that level, at the Pacific Alliance championships in Christchurch this weekend.

"I realise I don't have much chance of a medal or even a high placing at the Olympics," she said. "I'm just determined to do as well as I can for my sport and for New Zealand."

Phillips is the first New Zealand male gymnast to be selected for an Olympic Games since Terry Sale in 1972.