INDIANAPOLIS, Ind., June 29, 2010 – Hunter Brewster and Savannah Vinsant, both of Lafayette, La., will represent the United States in trampoline at the first-ever Youth Olympic Games in Singapore, August 14-26. The USA also is sending Jesse Glenn Northridge, Calif., in men’s gymnastics and Polina Kozitskiy of Fountainville, Pa., in rhythmic gymnastics.
Vinsant and Brewster, both of whom train at Trampoline & Tumbling Express, were selected to represent the United States when they won the selection competition held during a recent national team training camp. Youth Olympic Games participants in trampoline must have been born in either 1993 or 1994. Vinsant, who just moved up to the senior level this year, is allowed to compete as a junior internationally because she has never competed in an international event as a senior.
Brewster just won the junior men’s trampoline title at the U.S. Elite Challenge, and he competed in the Pan American Championships earlier this year. Vinsant won the 15-16 year-old world trampoline title in 2009. She was the U.S. junior champion in 2008 and finished second in 2009.
The United States qualified to the Youth Olympic Games at the 2009 Junior Pan American Trampoline and Tumbling Championships, where the countries with the top two finishers automatically qualified to the Youth Olympic Games. The USA, who finished third in women’s trampoline, was awarded one of the Universality berths by the International Gymnastics Federation.
Background information
The U.S. Olympic Committee will send a team of nearly 80 athletes to the 2010 Youth Olympic Games, which begins with the Opening Ceremony on August 14. The USA will send four athletes in gymnastics, one athlete in both men’s gymnastics and rhythmic gymnastics, and two for trampoline (one man and one woman).
The Youth Olympic Games is an international multi-sport event of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) that will bring together 3,600 athletes (between the ages of 14 and 18) from all 205 National Olympic Committees and competing in the 26 sports of the 2012 Olympic Games in London. The Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games run from Aug. 14-26 and feature a cultural and education program, with the goal of increasing participants’ awareness of the Olympic values and topics, such as healthy lifestyles and the fight against doping.
For more information on the Youth Olympic Games, visit www.olympic.org/youtholympicgames.