British teen prodigy Naana Oppon tumbling her way to the Trampolining World Championships, eyes a gold

Oppon said she was a “very active girl” and took up tumbling at the age of four. Tumbling is a trampoline gymnastics discipline that falls under the aegis of the International Gymnastics Federation.

Her progress has been so swift that she has been described by coaches as the sport’s Usain Bolt and compared to American gymnastics superstar Biles.

Not surprisingly, she identifies strongly with the American four-time Olympic gold medallist and says she “absolutely” hopes she can be as inspirational as Biles.

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“In the gym, people doing tumbling specifically do not look like me, either black or people of colour. The way Biles carries herself has been a big inspiration,” Oppon said.

“I think I have already definitely inspired the black community and people of colour to try tumbling out. Anyone can join.”

Oppon accepts she could inspire even more to take it up if she were to win a medal at the world championships which take place in the English city of Birmingham from Thursday to Sunday.

“I do definitely think it’s realistic to win a medal in the team or individual,” she said.

“It would mean a lot to win a medal as it means all the hard work and sacrifices made by me and my family were worthwhile.”

For Oppon to fulfil her dream, she has had to lead a life far from that of a normal teenager.

“I have made quite a few sacrifices, especially my social life and hanging out with friends,” she said. “I have also been a little behind with schoolwork because I have been training in two gyms for the past year and a half. However, it balances out in the end, I guess.”

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Her parents, mother Antonia and father Paul, have also sacrificed a lot by, at one point, taking two jobs each to finance expenses that amount to roughly 700 pounds (US$850) a month – as tumbling does not receive the funding from the lottery that Olympic sports do.

However, supermarket worker Antonia gave up one of her jobs so she could drive Oppon to one of the gyms that is quite a distance from their home.

Paul still works two jobs and Oppon says her sister is also supportive of her pursuit of her goal.

The British title in September therefore made her proud that she had repaid their time and efforts.

“I am very, very proud of myself as it was not really what I expected to do,” she said. “I was really just hoping to do my best but I did even better than that and came out on top. It was a very nice outcome.”

As it turns out, she was not so far behind in her schoolwork and despite being “very, very nervous” about her GCSE exams she got “very good” results.

Further down the line she envisages “learning sign language” and either being a sports physiotherapist or a sports psychologist – but before that, a year at the circus is appealing to her, but not an ordinary one.

“I would like to take a year off after school and join Cirque du Soleil,” she said. “It would be a really amazing experience to be part of that. After all, tumbling is quite a part of it.”