By NICOLA McCASKILL 

She’s competed all over the world, representing Australia at two Commonwealth Games and five world championships.

But one event is still missing for national champion rhythmic gymnast Danielle Prince.

“I think the Olympic Games is the pinnacle for any athlete,” Prince said.

Prince is heading to the Australian team camp in Perth at the end of this month to fine-tune her routines for the world championships, which will held in September in Stuttgart, Germany.

“So that will be me presenting my routines in front of Australia’s top judges, getting some feedback and corrections, to help me improve.”

The world championships are the qualifying event for the Olympics. But while Australia's international ranking in rhythmic gymnastics has improved, it is not yet enough for the Olympics. Entry for the peak event is via the one wildcard that is available for Australia and New Zealand. 

“It’s that one gymnast every four years. At the Commonwealth Games, we qualify three gymnasts, which is excellent to be part of a team event – but unfortunately at the Olympics there’s only an individual event. So it’s quite difficult to grab that one spot,” Prince said.

It’s a difficulty Prince knows all too well, having narrowly missed out on selection for the London Olympics in 2012.

“Rio definitely has a really special meaning to me in terms of continuing on to go to the Olympics, it’s a huge deal,” she said.

“It was probably one of the toughest times in my career … but I think I’ve definitely come back stronger for it.”

Prince was crowned all around national champion for the fourth time in May. 

“For me, national championships was a stepping stone,” Prince said.

“That’s kind of how I’ve viewed every competition for myself this year. So to be ranked No.1  at nationals was really important to me – to be able to get into the worlds team, to even be eligible to vie for that spot for the Olympics. It was definitely high pressure.”

In training, Prince goes through different phases of repetitions for up to 35 hours a week, along with two hours of ballet each day, a strength and conditioning program, and working with a physiotherapist, exercise physiologist and sports psychologist.

“There’s lots of different aspects to my preparation for world championships,” she said.

 While her favourite apparatus changes depending on the routine and the choreography, her current favourite is ball. “I do that to an INXS piece, Never Tear Us Apart – I really love performing with the lyrics and the music,” Prince said.

 Prince’s next major competition is the Budapest world cup event at the beginning of August, followed by the Kazan world cup event in Russia – then the world championships.

“Mostly, all I’m thinking about right now is selection,” she said. “I’m really focusing on that. You can’t get too ahead of yourself, I’ve learned – from past experiences, mostly. It’s really important just to stay in the moment and just focus on the next competition.”

Danielle Prince at this year's national championships.

National championships a small step, giant leap

The Australian Gymnastics Championships brought Australia’s best artistic, rhythmic, trampoline and acrobatic gymnasts to Hisense Arena in Melbourne in May.

Australia’s most successful female artistic gymnast, Lauren Mitchell, launched her competitive comeback at the championships. Motivated to become a triple Olympian – and vie for the Olympic medal that has so far eluded Australian gymnastics – Mitchell competed in beam and floor routines with less than a month’s full training.

Despite coming into the competition “without any expectations”, Mitchell was crowned national champion on the floor exercise.

In the men’s competition, Nayoa Tsukahara – now a true veteran of the sport – secured his sixth national all-round title.

For trampolinists, the nationals are an important qualifying event for the world championships, which is the pinnacle for non-Olympic sports.

“Nationals and the national clubs event are the two qualifying events for double-mini (trampoline) at the world championships,” said Victorian trampolinist Ryan Hatfield.

National events are also opportunities to socialise with other gymnasts, he said.

“You definitely make friends at the national championships with athletes from other states, and those are quite genuine friendships – and often I do only get to see them at the national championships,” Hatfield said.

After facing some troubles in training, Hatfield hopes to return to his peak and compete in all three events – individual tramp, synchronised tramp and double-mini – at the national clubs competition in September, and qualify for the worlds team as he did last year.

For other gymnasts, the national championships is the most important competition of the year.

“It’s the biggest comp. There were high intensity levels … it was a very stressful time,” said acrobat Aaron Mavro who, competing at his ninth championships, was crowned national champion in the Level 10 mixed pair division along with his partner Siubhan McBain.

“There is a lot of preparation time leading up … we polish our routines and get them ready for nationals,” Mavro said. 

“Every year, my nerves are through the roof … the best part of the routine is walking off the floor,” he said.

“And after it’s all finished, I can’t wait to get back in the gym and keep training. It’s a really weird circle of life.”