By Michael Joel-Hansen

Olympian gymnast gives back in Prince Albert

Dec 22, 2018 | 7:00 AM

The Prince Albert Gymnastics Club hosted a special guest Friday afternoon.

Ellie Black, a two-time Olympian who has also competed for Canada all over the world was training with athletes at the club Friday afternoon.

Speaking with paNOW before getting underway with the training session, Black spoke about how important it is for her to give back to the sport.

“For me, especially being from Nova Scotia and Halifax, we have a lot of community support and I worked with a lot of coaches over the years, to get where I am, I got a lot of help from a lot of people,” she said.

Black said as she learned the sport, she attended many different gymnastics clubs, which motivates her to give back to the gymnastics community across the country.

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“Hopefully just seeing the kids, seeing the athletes here, hopefully, inspire them a little bit,” she said.

Besides visiting the club in Prince Albert, Black, who is visiting the province for the holidays, is training with some clubs in Saskatoon.

During her career, Black competed at the Pan Am Games and World Championships. At the World Championships, she became the first Canadian to medal in the all-around competition, bringing home a silver medal. Her athletic accomplishments led to her being awarded the Order of Nova Scotia.

At 23, Black is on the older side when compared with many of her fellow competitors. She said some athletes may find some inspiration in how she made her way to the upper levels of the sport.

“I got into the sport a little bit later than maybe some kids do. You can get into it at a variety of different ages and I peaked a little bit later and I’ve stuck in the sport a little bit longer than a lot of gymnasts tend to,” she said.

In terms of how she has been able to keep competing at such a high level for an extended period of time, Black was quick to give credit to her coaches and training program.

“It’s definitely being smart with your training,” she said. “Both of my coaches we work really well together making sure we train smartly, safely, you’re doing the proper recovery, nutrition,” she said.

The executive director of the Prince Albert Gymnastics Club Michael Amouri got to know Black over the past number of years from being on the gymnastics circuit. When he heard she was going to be visiting Saskatoon he felt he had to get her to come visit P.A. to see the younger athletes.

“I really admire her, because she is not just an excellent athlete, she’s an excellent ambassador for the sport,” he said.

Amouri said Black made major contributions as a Canadian gymnast, which he believes is an inspiration to those who are up and coming in the sport.

“She has so many records and she is so decorated for a Canadian gymnast, before that we had great gymnast too, but she has sort of proven … we can go as far as we can imagine in gymnastics,” he said.

MichaelJoel.Hansen@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @mjhskcdn