Gwenaelle Mak was just five years old when she fell in love with artistic gymnastics. At age six, when most of her kindergarten peers were learning how to ride a bicycle, Gwenaelle was doing cartwheels with ease and preparing for competitions.From Primary 5, she began representing her school at the National School Games (NSG) and competed in other competitions such as the National Championships and Singapore Open.From training once a week, the frequency of her sessions increased to eight hours weekly three times a week when she started to compete for her school and a club.She continued to love her sport, but the intensity of the training caught up with her body.
Gwenaelle, who is now 16, said that as the frequency of training increased, the risk of injury is higher.In Secondary 2, she experienced heavy swelling in her knee that would not go away despite lighter training. An MRI scan confirmed that she had a torn meniscus, a condition that could have been caused by too much training or a bad landing.Her doctor recommended surgery, because it is hard for the meniscus to heal by itself. And at her age, she had a good chance of making a full recovery.She went ahead with the operation, which required just an overnight stay in the hospital but nine months of physiotherapy. Six months after her surgery, she was able to return to a scaled-down training routine.
