Mez (vwhpc.gymnastics.bvit.com.au, 28 Aug 2013)

Athlete, Student

English

Victorian High Performance Centre [AUS] / Australian Institute of Sport [AUS] [Australia]

Tracey Penaluna [personal]; Peggy Liddick [national], USA (smh.com.au, 10 Oct 2015)

She underwent surgery for an anterior cruciate ligament [ACL] injury sustained during training prior to the Australian team's departure for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro test event. (fig-gymnastics.com, 16 Mar 2016; www.gymnastics.org.au, 10 April 2016)

She underwent her third ankle surgery in late 2014. Her recovery period lasted for nine months. (theherald.com.au, 22 Sep 2015)

She was forced to withdraw from the 2010 Commonwealth Games and world championships teams after sustaining a lower leg injury during training in August 2010. She landed on an edge of a tumbling strip, forcing a short landing which resulted in a rupture of the ligament between the tibia and fibula. (gymnastics.org.au, 01 Sep 2010)

She did not compete in 2009 as she had a small bone removed from each of her ankles. (ausport.gov.au, 13 Jul 2010)

She took up gymnastics at age five at Lake Macquarie Police Citizens Youth Club [PCYC], in NSW, Australia. (theherald.com.au, 22 Sep 2015)

She was encouraged to take the sport up by her cousin, who is also a gymnast. "When I started gymnastics I was screaming and crying because I couldn't do it." (gymnastics.org.au, 07 Jul 2010; fulltwist.net, 30 Oct 2012; theherald.com.au, 24 June 2016)

She trains for 35 hours a week. (theherald.com.au, 22 Sep 2015)

Romanian gymnast Catalina Ponor. (gymnastics.org.au, 12 Apr 2012)

Her mother. (gymnastics.bvit.com.au, 28 Aug 2013)

"You try, you fail, you try, you fail, but the only time you truly fail, is when you stop trying." (vwhpc.gymnastics.bvit.com.au, 28 Aug 2013)

Awards
She received the 2013 Victorian School Sports Outstanding Sporting Achievement award. (niddrie.gymanstics.org.au, 27 Mar 2014)