Chris (Facebook profile, 17 Apr 2018)

Athlete

English

Vladimir Vatkin [national]

2014

In March 2019 he ruptured his left anterior cruciate ligament [ACL, knee] and meniscus [knee] in the floor exercise at the World Cup event in Doha, Qatar. (gymnastics.org.au, 23 Mar 2019)

He took up gymnastics at age five in Adelaide, SA, Australia.

"My dad said I could do any sport I wanted to, but I could only do one. So I tried everything and then settled on gymnastics."

To compete at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. (commonwealthgames.com.au, 01 Jan 2018)

He trains for up to 30 hours a week.

Winning a gold medal at the 2017 World Cup event in Baku, Azerbaijan. (commonwealthgames.com.au, 01 Jan 2018)

Australian gymnast Sam Offord, Japanese gymnast Kohei Uchimura. (commonwealthgames.com.au, 01 Jan 2018)

He listens to music before competing. (commonwealthgames.com.au, 01 Jan 2018)

"Go big or go huge." (Instagram profile, 02 Oct 2018)

FROM PHILIPPINES TO AUSTRALIA
He was born in the Philippines and was adopted from an orphanage at age two by Adelaide couple Mark and Dora Remkes. After winning a gold medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, QLD, Australia, he said he may return to the Philippines one day to show children there in a similar situation to his that anything is possible. "When I feel like the time is right I'll go back [to the Philippines]. I'm not in a rush but when I feel it's right to go back I will go, and I'd like to go back and have a look at the orphanage and have a chat with them. I've met a kid in Canberra who also does gymnastics and he's also adopted and to hear that I was adopted means absolutely everything to him. He kind of sees me as an inspiration and it's really nice to see that sort of stuff." (manilatimes.net, 15 Apr 2018; adelaidenow.com.au, 14 Apr 2018)