British Gymnastics appoint beam specialist as new coach
BRITISH Gymnastics have appointed Carol-Angela Orchard to their coaching staff in a bid to strengthen their beam performances and continue their rise through the ranks.
ACROBATIC: Hannah Whelan performs on the beam during the recent World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Rotterdam (Reuters)
Orchard has been handed the role of women's national coach - beam and artistic preparation and joins the British team with 30 years of coaching experience, including four Olympic Games, 11 World Championships, four Pan-American Games and three Commonwealth Games.
Arguably the highlight of her coaching career, where she was until recently Canadian national technical advisor, was aiding Canadian gymnast Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs to her countries first ever World Championships medal - beam bronze in Aarhus in 2006.
Orchard is joined a women's British team on the up with Beth Tweddle recently capturing her third world title in the floor exercise in Rotterdam.
And at last month's Commonwealth Games in Delhi, Imogen Cairns secured double gold in the vault and the floor while the England quintet sealed team silver.
At the recent World Championships, Great Britain excelled in reaching the team final but could not repeat the feat of their European silver in April, and ended up seventh.
They would have been considerably higher but early falls on the beam from Cairns and Nicole Hibbert cost them dearly - but Orchard is relishing the chance to bring the Brits up to speed.
"I have tremendous respect for the British coaches, gymnasts and judges," said Orchard.
"It will be an absolute honour to assist them in the pursuit of excellence.
"Beam is such a psychological event, and I believe it is essential to inspire each individual gymnast to perform with a positive and aggressive attitude in order to be successful.
"I am passionate about creating an environment where the gymnasts can compete to the best of their ability, fulfilling their personal potential and thereby making a strong contribution to the British team objective in London 2012 and beyond. I can't wait to get started!"
Meanwhile, British Gymnastics Olympic performance director Tim Jones is convinced Orchard's appointment will produce tangible improvements in results.
"We have highlighted that we can make significant performance gains in our beam work with the aim of building on our successful team results achieved at the World Championships in Rotterdam," said Jones.
"We are also looking to ensure we can influence our next generation of gymnasts and this appointment is an indication or our commitment to future Olympic cycles.
"British Gymnastics are fortunate to be able to appoint such a successful and experienced coach in Carol-Angela to work with our key gymnasts."
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In July 2008, Ms. Orchard
In July 2008, Ms. Orchard was Head Coach at Sport Seneca in Toronto. One of her gymnasts, 14 year-old Taylor Lindsay-Noel, suffered a tragic fall off of the uneven bars. Today Taylor is a quadraplegic. There were only 3 gymnasts in the gym that day and 2 coaches, Ms. Orchard and Mr. McVey. Taylor's family filed a criminal negligence lawsuit against Sport Seneca and the coaches. Shortly after this incident both Ms. Orchard and Mr. McVey announced their retirement from coaching and Ms. Orchard left Canada for the UK.
I find it disturbing that Ms. Orchard is once again coaching. What happened to Taylor Lindsay-Noel could have been prevented that day. Instead a young woman who had a very promising future ahead of her as an olympic hopeful, is now confirned to a wheelchair for the rest of her life.
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