AV俱乐部

It's official. Gymnast David Kikuchi is good to go.

Nursing a sore elbow, the AV俱乐部 grad's berth on the Canadian men鈥檚 gymnastics squad heading to the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing was contingent聽on his performance at聽a pre-Olympic training camp in Calgary last Friday.

In an email message, he reports everything went fine and "I am now officially on the team!"

Injured聽during Olympic trials earlier this month, Mr. Kikuchi said he was feeling quite a bit better after seeing聽Halifax osteopath Peter Goodman. 鈥淎 week ago it was pretty bothersome, but this week in practice it felt pretty good.鈥�

Sounding confident and upbeat, Mr. Kikuchi is one of the veterans on the Canadian squad. At the age of 28, he鈥檚 the oldest on the team heading to Beijing, which also includes 2004 Olympic floor exercise champion Kyle Shewfelt (back after a devastating injury in which he broke the tibias in both of his legs 10 months ago) Nathan Gafuik, Grant Golding and Adam Wong, all from Calgary, and Brandon O鈥橬eill of Edmonton.

"I'm sure it would be weird if someone else just popped into my body, but for me it's just what I do." 鈥� gymnast David Kikuchi

A mainstay of the men鈥檚 national team, he represented Canada at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens and was a member of Canada's squad at the 2006 world championships. At the Canadian championships held in Calgary in June, he placed first in the rings鈥攖here鈥檚 a reason why he鈥檚 called 鈥淟ord of the Rings鈥濃�攁nd second in pommel horse, parallel bars, horizontal bar and all around competition.

He says going to AV俱乐部 to study mathematics and statistics just as he started training full-time benefits him now. He鈥檚 organized and works hard to keep balance in his life. As well as training for the Olympics, he works for RBC in Halifax (he鈥檚 one of 28 RBC Olympians) and is a provincial gymnastics coach. Since the age of seven, his own coach has been his father, Tak Kikuchi.

His says the team is business-like and focused with the Olympics just two weeks away.

鈥淲e鈥檝e got a job to do,鈥� says Mr. Kikuchi, who adds teams from China and Japan provide the toughest competition. 鈥淲e know what it takes to get there and we know what it鈥檚 going to make it to the podium.鈥�