Games dream about to come true for rhythmic gymnast | Canterbury Sport | Surfing, Rugby, Soccer, Football, Cricket in Canterbury

THE DISAPPOINTMENT of missing
selection for the last Commonwealth
Games has 19-year-old Kimberley Robson
highly motivated for the Delhi games.

Robson will go to the games with two
other rhythmic gymnasts from
Christchurch's Olympia club, national
champion Mereana Rademakers, 19, and
former Queenslander Keziah Oliver, 18.

A New Zealand representative since
she was 11, Robson qualified for three
finals and finished 10th overall at the
Pacific Rim championships in Melbourne
in April _ the best New Zealand placing.

Going to India was a dream come true,
she said.

''It's been a dream for a long time, and
I've been training for this a good few
years _ probably since the last
Commonwealth Games when I was
shortlisted for the team.''

A university student, she's put her BA
in media and communication studies on
hold this year to train.

It's been a worthwhile move.

As well as the extra hours in the gym,
she's been able to rest better.

Robson's career has been reshaped
since Russian coach Galina Safronova
started working with her at the start of
last year. Safronova and Kathryn
Holdsworth also coach Oliver and
Rademakers.

''She's very wise and knowledgeable
in rhythmic gymnasts, and it's like she's
created a whole new gymnast!'' said
Robson.

Last Christmas-New Year she went to
Kazan, Russia, with Safronova to train,
and then to the US, Canada, and
Australia for competitions.

Working intensively in the gym there
and seeing the Russian way of working
had been absolutely amazing, she said.

Robson and Rademakers have
experience from two World Cup
meetings, in Portugal in 2007 and at
Montreal early this year, and the three
Christchurch women will also compete in
a World Cup in Pesaro, Italy, this month.

They will then compete at the
gymsport nationals in Hamilton at the
end of September and get a three-day
break before they fly to India.

Robson started gym when she was
seven as a complement to ballet, and still
dances.

Ballet is more a hobby now, although
she has done her exams through to the
British Ballet Organisation advanced
No.2 level.

She said her target was to qualify for
the top 16 in India _ and make the most
of what would be an ''amazing
experience.''

Inside the stadium, heat should not be
an issue, and she and other competitors
have been regularly updated by the New
Zealand Olympic Committee on security.