Profile of Allana Slater on Famous Like Me

Allana Slater is Australia's highest ranking gymnast. She was born April 3, 1984 in Perth, Western Australia. She suffered from a condition called sleep apnea in her early years. Allana was hooked up to a machine that monitored her breathing and heart rate.

Her early years in gymnastics saw her train at Kalajos School of Gymnastics but it was not long before the talent scouts from the Western Australia Institute of Sport (WAIS) spotted the then 5 year old Allana and invited her to join their elite development program. She began training in the WAIS program just after her 6th birthday.

Allana made her national competition debut at the age of 9 and her international debut at 11. 1998 stands out as a breakthrough year for Allana, at a dual meet against Japan while still a junior, she emerged as the all around champion recording her first major international victory over her more experienced and senior teammates as well as the best gymnasts from Japan. A good performance at the World Youth Games followed and soon after a third place finish at the Australian Commonwealth Games team trial. Allana soon found herself standing with her teammates on the podium in Kuala Lumpur receiving Australia's first ever Commonwealth Games team gold medal. Individually Allana also won two silver medals in the all around and floor exercise finals.

Since then, Allana and her Australian teammates have truly made their mark on the international gymnastics scene. Their 5th place finish at the 1999 World Championships (ahead of 1996 Olympic Champions, USA) was a surprise to all but supporters of Australian gymnastics. At the same competition Allana earned the highest place individual world ranking ever achieved by an Australian gymnast when she finished 9th in the individual all around.

In the most closely contested National Championship in Australian Gymnastics history, Allana pipped Trudy McIntosh with her last event to win her first National title early in 2000. In July at the Olympic Trials, Allana performed flawlessly to win the event and in doing so assured herself of a place on her first Olympic team. Allana and the Australian girls performed well in the team competition to finish in 7th place - just missing the team final. Individually Allana went on to compete in the individual all around where she finished in 16th place. She was also asked to join the Olympic medallists in performing in the post competition Gymnastics Gala.

While all but one of her Olympic teammates left Sydney contemplating retirement Allana continued to train and compete returning to Europe at the end of the year to take part in the last two events on the World Cup Circuit. At the DTB Cup she made history winning Australia's first ever World Cup grand prix gold medal on the uneven bars, she also collected a silver medal on floor.

2002 started with a bang for Allana when she won her second World Cup Grand Prix gold medal at the Cottbus event on the floor in Germany. The Pacific Alliance Championships soon followed and Allana helped the Australian team to a strong silver medal performance as well as picking up an individual silver medal on the floor exercise. At the Australian Championships she finished in second place overall just behind Alexandra Croak and won three of the four individual apparatus titles. This event doubled as the first selection trial for the Commonwealth Games team and after a month long selection camp at the AIS in Canberra, Allana was named in her second Commonwealth Team. As it had been in 1998, the Australian team was a mixture of youth and experience. The team entered the competition in Manchester as hot favourites to defend the title they had won four years earlier and they did not disappoint. With an near perfect performance, the Aussie girls won the team title by almost four points. Allana won four individual medals and returned home as one of the most successful Australian team members. She was selected as one of three athletes to represent the whole team in being welcomed home by the Prime Minister John Howard. It was a great moment to see a gymnast selected for this honour. With the 2002 World Championships approaching quickly there was barely time to celebrate. Allana was selected as Australia's only representative for the event after winning five gold medals at the selection trials.

At 21, Allana is now considered the veteran of the Australian team. She competed in the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece. Where she qualified for the beam final.

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