Rhythmic gymnast Lidiia Iakovleva aims for top 10 finish at the Youth Olympics in Argentina

Rhythmic gymnast Lidiia Iakovleva will enter this week’s Youth Olympics in Argentina inspired by the memories of elite athletescompeting at this year’s the Commonwealth Games.

Image by WinkiPoP Media Lidiia Iakovleva

Rhythmic gymnast Lidiia Iakovleva will enter this week’s Youth Olympics in Argentina inspired by the memories of elite athletescompeting at this year’s the Commonwealth Games.

The 15-year-old from Aspire Gymnastics Academy at Robertson said she missed qualifying for the Commonwealth Games selectiontrial by 12 months but watching the events had heightened her desire.

“The atmosphere on the Gold Coast was amazing and it really left a memory that constantly inspires me to achieve more andI have set my goal to target the next Commonwealth Games in 2022,’’ she said.

Aspire Gymnastics Academy’s Lidiia Iakovleva.

For the moment, however, Iakovleva was consumed by competing at the Youth Olympics which she targeted three years ago afterwinning her first Australian title.

“I then realised it was not just a dream and then truly believed in myself and made it my goal to participate in this prestigeevent and represent my country,’’ she said.

“I am really hoping to achieve a top 10 ranking.

“This will be a dream come true, as my family and I have been working towards this result for quite a long time. But my goalis to achieve my personal best score and perform clean and well as expressive routines.’’

Lidiia Iakovleva when she was selected for Australian junior rythmic gymnastics team two years ago.

Iakovleva has a great grounding in the sport, having grown up in Russia.

“Rhythmic Gymnastics is a very popular sport for girls in the country, so of course like every other young girl I starteddoing rhythmic gymnastics at the age of five.

“But when we moved to Australia as a family, I really wanted to continue this sport and explore it even further.

“Rhythmic gymnastics is such an elegant sport to watch as it encompasses so many beautiful elements to it.

“For example the. music, dance choreography, ballet, body strength, flexibility, body movement, expression, apparatuses handlingand lastly the stunning leotards. so it was a natural fit for me as a girls growing up and choosing a sport with such variety.’’

Iakovleva said her career had been inspired by Evgenia Kanaeva, the rhythmic gymnast and gold medal winner from the 2008 and2012 Olympic Games.