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South African Gymnast Going for More than Gold in Tokyo Olympics

Anita Powell

   JOHANNESBURG - South African gymnast Caitlin Rooskrantz is going for
   the gold -- and more. She wants to put gymnastics on the South African
   athletic map.

   Elite gymnastics is uncommon in this part of the world, and is dwarfed
   in popularity by sports like soccer, rugby and cricket.

   "In South Africa, it's not a well-known sport," Rooskrantz said. "It's
   not a sport that our communities really know about. ... You know, like
   my mom even said, she didn't even know what it was, you know, when we
   started in it."

   Rooskrantz is the first South African woman to represent the country at
   the Olympics in artistic gymnastics since 2004.

   She says it hasn't been smooth sailing. She trains up to eight hours a
   day at the Johannesburg Gymnastics Center, a hangar-like gym tucked
   into an otherwise quiet neighborhood.

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