Bogusia was born July 2, 2002 and has a Dutch father and a Polish mother. Bogusia has a Dutch and a Polish passport and could therefore represent any of the two countries as a gymnast; she decided she would like to represent the Netherlands.
Gymnastics is not a family tradition, it was a friend who introduced her to the sport. From her first club (Jahn Leiden) she moved PAX Hoofddorp, seeking to improve her level. PAX Hoofddorp did not participated at the highest gymnastics level in country at that time, but when a year later Patrick Kiens and Daymon Montaigne-Jones became coaches of that club, that was about to change. Bogusia was then asked to join the talent divison team (highest level for the Netherlands with compulsory routines) and is now, since she is age eligible, the elite team. Bogusia is also part of the Dutch Youth Selection of the KNGU (Dutch gymnastics federation). It gives her the benefit that she is now on a high school with a special program that allows her to combine school and sports well. It’s also very nice to meet all the other (pre-) elite gymnasts when they have national training camps together.
See the first competition of Bogusia on the highest compulsory level here.
Bogusia now trains 30 hours a week at PAX Hoofddorp with her coaches Patrick Kiens, Daymon Montaigne-Jones and Nel Krouwel. Her teammates include EC 2015 Montpellier gymnast Eythora Thorsdottir, Dyonaillys Supriana and 2008 and 2012 Olympian (for Egypt) Sherine El Zeiny.
All three of her coaches are originally choreographers and that produces really well executed and expressive gymnastics.
At this time Bogusia is training really hard to upgrade her D-scores, but she also trains all year her competition routines.
Bogusia is mentally strong and a fierce and fast gymnast, but lacks a bit of flexibility. Vault is her best event and beam her hardest, because it is difficult to hit consistently, especially when there are even competition nerves involved.
She participates this year in the Elite Youth Division which includes all elite gymnasts born 2002. Bogusia stands out with her high D-scores. In the first qualification for the nationals Bogusia had the highest difficulty on vault and floor, the second highest on beam and the third on bars. She ended the meet first AA and was also the best gymnast on vault and floor. She became second on bars and unfurtunately only 12th on beam due to four falls on this event. With this results she qualified to the nationals.
The second qualification meet was not as strong for Bogusia, but she still managed to placed 3rd AA. She tried a lot of new elements this second competition, some were successful other less successful.
Some notable skills in her program are a full twisting Yurchenko on vault (see it here), a double layout from bars (see it here), a really original handstand – roll backward to handstand – backhandspring stepout – layout stepout combination and a double tuck dismount on beam (see it here) and her floor includes a double sommersault and ends it with a 5/2 twist (see it here).
Last season Bogusia became the Dutch vault champion in her age division, which she mentions as her best achievement. She hopes to event final(s) on this year nationals and is even dreaming off getting a medal there. She trains hard to a full in to her floor routine and a Jaeger on bars at nationals.
In the future Bogusia hopes to represent the Netherlands on big international events and she hopes to master a Shaposnikova on bars and a double twisting Yurchenko on vault.
Her biggest inspirations are Aliya Mustafina and Larisa Iordache.
Bogusia already had a little international experience with competition in Luxembourg and Germany. She now hopes to qualify herself to the team for the Flanders International Team Challenge. There will be a non-public internal qualification meet on May 20, 2015. The Flanters International Team Challenge will be held in Ghent on May 30th (Saturday) and 31st (Sunday) with the youth competition on Sunday morning.
Bogusia, good luck with the rest of your gymnastics career. We hope you will reach all your goals for this season and those for the future!
For everyone who likes to follow her gymnastics journey, her mother uploads videos of her competitions here.
And here are a few routines – uneven bars:
Floor:
Beam:
Article by: Eef van Leeuwen