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Vanessa Hobbs has made spectacular progress over recent years to emerge as the surprise British star of the current Olympic cycle. At the time of the last Olympic Games in Sydney, 2000, Vanessa was ranked a lowly 32nd in the British Espoir division, an improvement of just two places on the previous year. Few could have predicted her meteoric rise to stardom. She is now a truly world class performer, looking to make finals on the greatest stage of all.
Vanessa (known as "Ness" to her friends and teammates) was born May 4th, 1987 in Portsmouth, Hampshire, and grew up nearby in Fareham. Like many gymnasts, she was initially enrolled in pre-school gym classes as an overly energetic baby, in need of tiring out. Ness stuck with gymnastics, although she did not start training seriously until the age of 9. The whole family is sporty; Vanessa's older brother Andy is a former competitive swimmer and her mum teaches gym at the local leisure centre where Ness got her first taste of the sport.
Vanessa moved through several clubs as a young gymnast, gaining county and regional representative honours. At national level, however, she failed to make any real impression despite clean, if simple, work. Not long after the 2000 British Espoir championships, Ness left her then club, Pegasus, following the retirement of her coach. She joined the Dynamo School of Gymnastics in Southampton, coming under the wing of coaches Debbie Hampton and Keith Richardson. It is fair to say that she has never looked back!
Previously inconspicuous on the national stage, Ness caught everyone's attention at the 2001 British Junior Championships, performing some extremely powerful and daring gymnastics that included a double front on floor and a rare Arabian on beam. Her 17th place AA finish was merely the result of inconsistency and a slight lack of refinement in the quality of her work. Nevertheless, Ness had made her mark, and in finals she claimed a bronze medal with some dynamic vaulting.
By early 2002, Vanessa was starting to show her true potential. Despite it being her first year in the national squad, she qualified for the European Junior Championships with a superb performance against Spain where she was the top British all-rounder and 2nd overall. At the 2002 British Nationals, Vanessa, competing as a junior for the final time, picked up a silver medal on the vault and placed an excellent 4th all-around. She was named on the Olympic squad of gymnasts being groomed for Athens. Towards the end of the year Vanessa won three medals against high-quality opposition at the Spieth Cup in Austria.
Ness continued to gain momentum throughout 2003, making great strides on all pieces and building her profile both nationally and internationally. She took a bronze medal on floor with a dazzling display in a match against Russia and went on to place a superb 3rd all-around at the senior British championships, claiming silver medals on vault and beam. With this performance, Ness secured herself a trip to the World Championships in Anaheim where she a made a huge contribution to GB's successful Olympic qualification.
Since Anaheim, Vanessa has confirmed her status as one of the top British gymnasts of any generation. With increasingly difficult work, she is now a match for the world's best on beam, floor and vault - a fact proven by her many finals places at World Cup events across Europe. Ness has only narrowly missed medals at prestigious competitions such as the DTB Cup, Glasgow Grand Prix, Cottbus Cup and French International. Despite not performing to her outstanding best at the 2004 European Championships, she still finished 6th on vault and helped the GB team to a record-breaking 5th place.
Since being called up to the Olympic squad, Vanessa has trained mainly at the Lilleshall National Sports Centre in Shropshire. Despite this, she continued with her 11 GCSE courses at Cams Hill School, Fareham, leaving in the summer of 2003 with some very good grades. Ness has deferred college for a year in order to focus on her Olympic ambitions. In the future she expects to return to her studies and has spoken of plans to go into sports massage. Ness is a popular gymnast with both fans and teammates. She is known for her explosive power, stylish work and high levels of difficulty on beam, floor and vault. She has made considerable progress on bars since her move to Dynamo, but this highly technical event remains something of an Achilles heel. Vanessa's favourite piece is floor, where she has an entertaining routine and enjoys the support of the crowd. Outside of gymnastics, Ness likes shopping and hanging out with her friends. She is a huge fan of the film 'Finding Nemo' and loves R&B music. Her dislikes include tomatoes, Brussels sprouts and "obnoxious people".
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