Team GB Star Worries for Next Generation as His Gym Faces Covid Closure

Giarnni Regini-Moran

An Olympic gymnast has raised concerns as his training centre comes under threat due to Covid lockdown.

Giarnni Regini-Moran, who is part of the team heading to represent Great Britain in the Olympics in Tokyo next year has spoken out about the financial issues that face Manchester Academy of Community Gymnastics.

The Salford academy is a key venue in terms of providing opportunities for athletes of all ages and abilities, but it is at great risk of shutting down due to the fact their landlords are no longer willing to hold off on rent payments.

“If I was at a point where I didn’t have the national facility or I didn’t have that backing and I was just an elite athlete trying to reach my dreams, of course, I wouldn’t have had my club to go and train.

“I can personally say for my younger brother, who is 13 years old, he was in the GB team and during the first lockdown he wasn’t able to train for four months and he no longer does the sport. So it can have a massive effect,” said the 22-year-old.

The 2014 Youth Olympic all-around, floor and vault champion relocated to Manchester in order to join the gym 13 months ago and now faces the prospect of having to find a new home in a vital period for his preparation for Tokyo.

He made the decision to join the training centre after disagreements with the Europa Gymnastics Centre in Dartford where he spent over six years, as well as to be much closer to Lilleshall National Sports Centre and to ensure that his long-time personal coach, Pete Etherington, would have a job.

The Team GB athlete moved away from home for the first time to join the gym but was fortunate to be hosted by gym owners Maxine and Mike Grech.

“You come home and as much as they try and put on a brave face, you can see it. You know, they’re struggling,” said Regini-Moran, who went on to express concerns for the younger generation of elite prospects but also the wider community at large.

Manchester Academy of Gymnastics also offer boxing and fitness classes to the local community that are run by a former World Champion boxer Steve “The Viking” Foster.

The former IBF Inter-Continental light middleweight champion was providing help to people who wanted to return to fitness after the first lockdown period, but since the November lockdown has been unable to do so.

The Olympic gymnast continued: “there’s a lot of kids out there that might come to one gymnastic class or they might come to two, but that might be getting them out of the house, some people might be struggling with other things that we don’t know about. That gymnastics class could be giving that little getaway or that little break from whatever.

“We don’t want to lose the younger generation because that’s so important going on [into] cycles beyond me, Olympics that will be way after my time. We need these gymnasts and they come from the young ages. So obviously, we need the support to keep that open, to keep people coming through the system.

“At the same time, we need to stay open for the people that come to gymnastics to actually just have a bit of fun, it’s not all about elite sport. For some people to come in once or twice a week is a massive thing and that’s why we need it to stay open.”

Spending six days-a-week there, the academy has become vital to Regini-Moran’s dreams of winning an Olympic Gold medal.

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