It’s one thing to be young, and another to be talented and make use of the talent to the benefit of others this is the case of a young, vibrant, energize and promising gymnast Chinnelle Okpanku, whose dream is no other thing but to rule the gymnastics world.

Okpanku is just seven, but she already boasts eight medals from gymnastics competitions and she is thinking of following in the footsteps of her role model American Simone Biles and representing Nigeria at the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics when she would be only 10.

“My role model is American Simone Biles and I love everything about her,” Okpanku said in an interview with PUNCH Sports Extra.

“I admire her agility and strength. I watch her videos almost every day and this has really helped me a lot.

“She is young but has won everything in gymnastics with a record 25 world medals and I hope to follow in her footsteps and one day represents Nigeria at the Olympics. I wish to achieve this at the age of 10.”

Okpanku’s meteoric rise as a gymnast has confounded her close followers, having only started physical training last year. The youngster is currently in level 4, a feat that usually takes at least three years to achieve.

“Chinnelle is the top-level 4 gymnast that we have in the country and she only started training last year,” coach Anthony Asuquo told PUNCH Sports Extra.

“She has always trained by herself, watching videos online and that is why her story is very appealing. Within a year, she has gone so far and she grew three places ahead of her level because she is supposed to be in level two having trained for just one year. But now she is going to level five.  If you give her another three to five years with consistent training, she is going to go places; the most interesting thing is the fact that she is just seven years of age.”

Never shy of trying new things or taking risks, Okpanku said she was ready to push further despite the challenge of having to combine her academics and gymnastics classes.

“It has not been easy for me though, but I have been doing my best and that’s what I hope to continue to do. My coach has also been very supportive and I can say that he is the best coach in the world.”

Okpanku’s mother, Ijeoma, in a chat with PUNCH Sports Extra talked about how her daughter became a gymnast.

She said, “During their career day, she said she wanted to be a gymnast and she dressed like one. So, we had no choice but to give her the maximum support that she needed.”

The youngster’s mother also opened up on the challenge of combining her academics and sports

Ijeoma added, “It’s been challenging and not easy, but when you know that a child is interested in something, all you need to do is support her.

“When she closes from school by 4pm, I pick her and take her to the stadium for training. It’s not been easy but it is one of the sacrifices we have to make and she just has to combine it with her academics.  We make sure that she has her assignments done and ensure that it doesn’t affect her class works.

“Her progress has been very fast and that’s why she is rated the fastest-growing gymnast. She’s been very progressive and doing very well.”

Okpanku is not done yet. At seven and with eight medals to her name, she’s already dreaming of one day surpassing Biles, her model.

“I just turned seven and I already have eight medals – six gold and two silvers – at my level and I hope to one day do better than Biles,” Okpanku said.

PUNCH NEWSPAPER.

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