International success for Dominique

The National and African gymnastic champion, Dominique Mann, has returned triumphant yet again with another career highlight in the bag.

The Ballito athlete, together with her partner Wilson Mafona, made waves on the world stage in Portugal by snatching 7th place, out of 25 countries, away from Germany in the finals of the FIG Aerobic World Cup on May 18.

Mann and Mafona were competing for the very first time in this competition entering the mixed pair category together.

The South African Gymnastics Federation (SAGF) took a chance on the athletes, entering them into the World Cup to test their potential and they definitely made an impact.

Both Mann and Mafona are on the top of their games as African and National champions in the women and men individual categories respectively.

According to Mann SAGF paired them together two years ago because of their complementary heights and body types to see what would happen.

They scraped through the qualifiers, on Friday May 16, and sneaked into the finals by just grabbing eighth place.

“My leg slipped off of my shoulder near the end of the routine so I thought our chance had been blown,” said Mann.

In the finals, on Sunday May 18, they performed a strong and clean routine beating Germany and taking seventh place.

“It was almost too soon for us to do so well with such stiff competition from the best countries in the world,” said Mann.

In the mixed pair category they were required to perform a synchronised routine of one and a half minutes.

“Precision and timing is key as each person’s hand, arm and finger must move at the exact same time,” said Mann.

Until last year Mann competed as an individual but she decided to begin competing with a partner to challenge herself.

“I could not stay away from any challenge or any opportunity to compete so I thought no I’ll enter all four categories,” said Mann

“I won four gold medals last year and it was the highlight of my career,” said Mann.

Now that the pair have proven themselves they will going to the World Championships in Mexico from June 22, where Mann will enter the mixed pairs and trio categories.