Sport
29 July, 2025
Sophiya jumps to new highs at Australian Championships
BEACHMERE teen, Sophiya Gordon-Daveson has claimed a gold and bronze medal at her first Australian Gymnastics Championships, held from July 3 to 17 at the Gold Coast Sports and Leisure Centre.
Sophiya won gold in her Queensland squad, and won bronze overall for her floor routine, and fifth on vault.
Sophiya’s mum, Lyndal Gordon, said she first discovered her love for gymnastics when she was just six years old, jumping around the house bursting with energy.
“She would be jumping on the couches doing crazy stuff, and so we put her in and it was only meant to be an hour a week, now she trains 19 hours a week,” Lyndal said.
“We decided to get her into gymnastics because we figured it’s better for her to do it somewhere safely than not.”
Sophiya is one of five children, and athletic talent runs in her family, with her 18-year-old brother a recent Muay Thai world champion.
“My two little ones are five and seven years old, and they are inspired by their older siblings, they want to be gymnastic Muay Thai fighters when they grow up,” Lyndal said.
The 13-year-old’s favourite gymnastics disciplines are floor, and she particularly loves tumbling.
“She’s an amazing tumbler when she’s on the floor doing her routines,” Lyndal said.
“She loves the atmosphere really, she’s quite a competitive kid and she also loves the fact there’s the opportunity to be apart of team competitions as well.”
The young star started doing gymnastics at the PCYC in Caboolture, however once she started to show real competitive promise, she moved to Delta Gymnastics.
“Unfortunately, the PCYC in Caboolture didn’t have any coaches or anything to continue her more competitive side, above level 4,” Lyndal said.
“We found Delta Gymnastics and she went to the North Lakes gym to start off with.
“She then got moved over to Kedron which is Delta Gymnastics’ high performance gym, and her coach from North Lakes moved with her.”
Lyndal said she is immensely proud of her daughter for everything she has achieved in less than ten years.
“Sophiya makes me proud every single day, her resilience and her drive, I wish I had that as a child,” she said.
“She’s just so driven like I have never seen in a child her age.
“If she wants something, there’s nothing that she won’t do, there’s no amount of hours she won’t train to get where she wants to be.”
She added that Sophiya makes a lot of sacrifices to strive in gymnastics.
Sophiya is focused on continuing her passion of gymnastics, and hopes to keep growing and improving as a gymnast.
“Her biggest dream is to represent Australia, and she would love nothing more than to be in the 2032 Brisbane Olympic Games,” Lyndal said.
“But also after, when her career as a gymnast finally does wrap up, she wants to become a high performance coach and help other gymnasts make it to nationals.”
