Rosie MacLennan finishes atop the podium in Pan Am qualifier

August 26, 2014 · 0 Comments

Team Canada (l to r): Samantha Smith, Karen Cockburn, Rosie MacLennan and Sam Sendel.

By Jake Courtepatte
The top trampolinists from across North and South America converged on the Hershey Centre in Mississauga last weekend looking for a spot at the 2015 Pan Am Games.
Among them was Rosie MacLennan, King City’s Olympic gold medallist, competing in the team, synchro, and individual categories.
A three-time Canadian National women’s champion, MacLennan swept the board finishing first in all three events.
Kicking off the weekend, MacLennan helped Team Canada to a first-place finish in the team event along with Samantha Smith, former synchro partner Karen Cockburn, and current synchro partner and Aurora-born Sam Sendel.
MacLennan and Sendel then went on to gold in the synchro event, mirroring their gold medal performance at the Canada Cup in July.
In the individual category, MacLennan finished first ahead of her synchro teammate with a 53.9, a score in which she says she “could do better.”
“It was obviously a good placing, but for a world cup event I would definitely need better scores going forward. I’ll have to do a little better.”
Both MacLennan and Sendel are fresh out of a training session in China in preparation for the road ahead.
“It was great,” said MacLennan. “We got to train with some of their senior athletes, and watch some of their development athletes and what they do. For me it was really motivating to break out of the norm and work on some different things, and come back and try to implement those technical changes. It definitely got us in gear for the rest of the season.”
Dozens of gymnast competed for only eight spots at the 2015 Games, while only two countries were allowed two entrants. The Canadian team was able to qualify two spots for both the men’s and women’s categories.
MacLennan entered the limelight in 2012, winning Canada’s only gold medal of the London Olympics in the individual trampoline event. She and Sendel both train at Skyrider’s Trampoline Place in Richmond Hill.