Gymnast on a mission to bring glory and gold to his adopted country

Since taking up gymnastics at the age of five in Adelaide, Chris Remkes will get to test how far he's progressed at next month's World Championships in Canada.

Chris Remkes lives,  breathes, eats and sleeps gymnastics.  He has devoted his life to the sport since the age of five after he was adopted by an Australian family at the age of two-and-a-half, and relocated from the Philippines

He's now devoted to winning as many medals as he can for the country that adopted him.

At the start of the year he made his biggest breakthrough to date - winning a gold medal at a world cup event in Azerbaijan.  And it's given him the taste for more.


"Getting my first taste of medals overseas is definitely a start," he told SBS World News.

Although he was born in the Philippines, he has not had much contact with his heritage,  or his biological parents. 

But with his career at such an important stage, he'll find time to do that eventually.
Chris Remkes in the Gymnasium at the AIS
Chris Remkes at work in the gym. Getting ready for the World Championships Source: SBS
Remkes and the Australian Gymnastics team are about to embark on a trip to Canada where the World Championships will take place in Montreal on October 2-8.

It's a chance to continue a rise nurtured in Adelaide with his adoptive family,  and his 'sporting family' at the Australian Insitute of Sport in Canberra.

With next year's Commonwealth Games taking place on the Gold Coast,  its the perfect chance for both his Australian families to see him in action for the country that took him in and helped turn him into an elite sportsman.


 


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Published 20 September 2017 7:42pm
Updated 20 September 2017 8:08pm
By John Baldock


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