Gymnastics: Five athletes chosen for Commonwealth Games

New Zealand gymnast Misha Koudinov Photo / Photosport

Glasgow Commonwealth Games bronze medallist David Bishop and Olympian Misha Koudinov head a team of five gymnasts named to compete at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games next year.

Rio Olympian Koudinov made headlines this week after the International Federation of Gymnastics named a new gymnastics skill named after him. He has a wealth of international experience and is off to his fourth Commonwealth Games.

Bishop said the Glasgow event had been ''an absolute highlight.
''The Commonwealth Games are something special and I'm looking forward to Gold Coast 2018."

Joining Koudinov and Bishop are Devy Dyson, Kyleab Ellis and Ethan Dick.

For Ellis, Dyson and Dick, it will be their first Commonwealth Games and for Dick it will be his first international senior debut.

The five were congratulated by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern at a function in Auckland's Victoria Park today.

"The opportunity for Misha and David to guide Ethan, Kyleab and Devy through such an elite event process, is the foundation on which any performance programme is built on,'' Gymnastics New Zealand chief executive Tony Compier said.

''This team has fantastic potential.''

Devy is based in Canada, while the other New Zealand based athletes are from the Tri Star Gymnastics club, where they train under 1998 Commonwealth Games bronze medallist David Phillips.

All five gymnasts compete will compete in the men's artistic disciplines on the Gold Coast.

New Zealand has competed in gymnastics at the Commonwealth Games since 1978. In that time one gold and four bronze Commonwealth Games gymnastics medals have been won.