Bringing Back: Hollie Dykes

If I could bring anyone out of retirement it would likely be former Australian national team member, Hollie Dykes. Hollie is to this day, one of my favorite athletes to watch because of her gorgeous toe point and the artistic component she brought to this sport. It's unfortunate she retired from the sport so soon!

Photo credit: Jasmine Schneebeli

Hollie started gymnastics at the age of 4 at the Australian Institute of Sport. She made her major international debut at the 2006 Commonwealth Games where she helped the Austrailian team to a first place finish. She also brought home some hardware for herself- winning a gold on the floor exercise, silver on beam, and a bronze in the all around. She then went on to compete at the Pacific Alliance Championships (now know as the Pacific Rim) where she did a remarkable job- placing 2nd with the team, 3rd all around , 4th on beam, and 5th on floor. It was at this meet that I became a big fan of Hollie's gymnastics. I particularly loved her beam and floor work because it was so intricate and precise.

                           

Later that year, Hollie competed at the World Championships in Aarhus Denmark. She helped the Australian team to a respectable seventh place finish; an improvement on the eight place finish at the 2004 Olympic Games. Unfortunately, a fall from beam in qualifications left her unable to progress to the apparatus final, where she was a medal prospect. However it's important to note that her beam score from the all around competition would have been high enough to win gold in the finals. Despite that disappointment, she made up for it by placing 7th in the all around and was one of the only athletes to make it through the competition without a fall. Where Dykes lacked in difficulty, she made up for it in grace and consistency.

Before making her senior international debut that year, Hollie was toted as the most beautiful and technically precise gymnast Australia had ever produced. But just over a year later in 2007, the results were lagging slightly behind the expectations. Much of that had to due with injuries. Hollie's coach Peggy Liddick said in an interview with The Age "she barely made it to worlds last year, because we pushed her through so many competitions, and she just can't handle it; some athletes just can't handle it, and she's grown 10 centimeters and 10 kilos". Dykes was left off the 2007 Commonwealth Games team.

Photo credit: Thomas Schreyer 

Hollie was able to bounce back in time for the 2007 World Championships, but unfortunately it was not a good meet. The team failed to qualify for the team finals and Hollie didn't make any event finals. This would be the last time Hollie competed. She retired in January of 2008, just 7 months shy of the Olympic Games, citing personal reasons as her incentive. Back in December of 2007, Peggy Liddick said that Hollie was just taking some time off, however Dykes mother insisted that Hollie had quit the sport for good. She said she was prevented from going into details about the reasons for Dykes’s departure because of a legal contract with the Australian Institute of Sport.

Peggy said of Hollie's retirement "She had to convince me she wants to do it. I'm not going to force anyone to go to the Olympics." So with that, Hollie's career was over. It's still makes me sad to this day because she was such a talented gymnast and would have most likely been on Australia's Olympic team in 2008.