David Bishop Update!

Hi everyone,

The last couple of months have been very busy for me! I have been competing in domestic competitions in Auckland and Christchurch trying to qualify for my two big international competitions for the year. With training being quite intense at the moment it has been great having the USANA nutrimeals straight after training, they are the best, especially that Dutch Chocolate! Yum.

My competitions went mostly really well and I got the qualification score on multiple events including my best apparatus, the floor. I even managed to upgrade my floor routine and hit it 2/2 in competition. I’ve made my training plan so that I am peaking at the World Champs therefore I wasn’t at my top fitness for these trials. It’s great knowing that I’ve still got room for improvement and hopefully even better scores are to come when I’m at the Worlds.

2 weeks ago I was lucky enough to be invited to the Prime Ministers Olympic Gala Dinner. This was such a great event to attend, the place was full of well-known retired and current NZ Olympians such as Beatrice Faumuina, Barbara Kendall, and Rob Waddell to name a few (all multiple Olympic gold medallists!) As the event name suggests, the Prime Minister, John Key was also there and I managed to have a quick talk with him about my sport and get a photo with him. The event was to fundraise for New Zealand’s Olympic campaign to Rio. Items were auctioned off at the dinner including a ‘Poutapatoru’ (Maori ornament) which all the medallists at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games had signed (including myself). It sold for $7000, a dinner with the Prime Minister sold for $32000!! Overall the event made $200,000 which will go directly towards costs associated with taking the New Zealand team to Rio in 2016. At this event the NZOC released their 2016 Olympics campaign ‘Be the Inspiration’. I had an amazing night and left feeling inspired myself, extra motivated to get on the New Zealand Olympic team to Rio.

I’m happy to say I have officially qualified to represent New Zealand at the World Cup competition in Croatia in September and I have also qualified for the World Championships in Scotland this October. Both of these competitions will have the world’s best gymnasts trying to prove their worth and trying to prepare/qualify for the Olympics in Rio next year. In order for me to have a chance at making the Olympics next year I must prove my value to NZOC at both of these competitions.

There is a long process to make it to the Olympics and two ways that I need to qualify. The first is to be selected by NZ to be sent to the Olympic Test Event in Rio next year in April where I need to achieve a qualifying score in the all-around competition. The second is to prove to NZOC that I can achieve a top 16 placing on an apparatus at the Olympics (this will be the harder of the two, but I think I’m capable of doing it!) NZ will select one person to send to the Test Event in based on their results at the World Cup and World Championships this year (between me and one other NZ gymnast). I need to use my results at all of my international competitions from now until the Olympic Test Event to prove that I can score a mark capable of placing top 16 at the Olympics. If I can’t prove this then NZOC won’t send me regardless of whether I qualify at the Test Event or not. I’m hoping to prove a top 16 placing on either Floor or Vault.

New Zealand has only ever had 2 male gymnasts ever be represented at the Olympics for gymnastics. I have a huge task ahead of me, but I plan to be the third.