Congratulations to Sixth Form student and star gymnast Reiss Beckford who has just returned to the country with a clutch of medals won at the Australian Olympic Youth Festival, held in Sydney in January 2009.

Reiss was part of a British team which scored a significant (and unexpected) victory over world super power China to win the team gold medal at the Sydney Entertainment Centre. 

Reiss also qualified for the Individual final where he won the silver medal - only a slight mistake on High Bar prevented him winning the title.  Reiss went on to further success in the Apparatus finals where he won the gold medal in the floor exercises and a silver on vault. 

Reiss is now attending a training camp with the Japanese and Canadian junior teams at Lilleshall, our national centre of excellence for gymnastics.  His next competition will be the British Senior Team championships where he'll be representing his South Essex club.

Well done to Reiss; he is making huge progress towards his London 2012 Olympic goal!

Reiss (third from left) and his team mates celebrating their gold medal success