Olympic dream is very much alive for gymnast Olivia

An aspiring gymnast, who wished as a young girl to compete on the world stage, is one step closer to achieving her dream.

Olivia Grzesiak, 13, finished 10th out of a pool of 90 juniors at the English Gymnastics Championships in Telford earlier this month.

Her mother, Klaudia, said her dream to become a gymnastic came about at a very young age.

“When she was five, we were on a holiday in Wales and Olivia asked me for a coin for a wishing fountain,” she told the Diss Express.

“When she put it in, she wished she could be a professional gymnast and it all started from there.”

Olivia, a Diss High School pupil, joined the Norfolk Academy of Gymnastics in 2016 and, since then, has been training for more than 20 hours a week.

Ms Cimek said she had been quite surprised by just how quickly her daughter had reached such a high level on the national stage.

“I was in shock when they said she had placed tenth out of 90 of the country’s best gymnasts,” she said.

“This is her first year competing at junior level, but we are so super proud of her because she has put in so much hard work for this and it is really paying off.”

The young gymnast has previously been invited for assessments to be part of the England squad, only for an injury to derail her hopes.

This has not dampened her dream of one day going to the Olympics.

“I’m convinced that Olivia will get another chance if she carries on the way she is going as she is so passionate about this,” said her mother.

“And we will support her every step of the way.”

As a reader, we know the value you place on trusted local journalism. At the Diss Express we are committed to delivering the very best coverage from our communities, and we can only do this with the support of our readers.

By becoming a subscriber you not only support us in this mission, you also unlock a whole host of benefits, including unlimited access to ad-lite websites and digital editions of all our weekly newspapers. You can find out more about subscriptions here.

Use the promo code KEVINHURST to get an annual subscription for less than £25 - we really appreciate your support. Thank you.