Julie Croket
Belgian artistic gymnast
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Julie Croket (born 1 July 1994) is a Belgian former artistic gymnast. She was selected to represent Belgium at the 2012 Olympics,[3] but one month before she tore her ACL, and could not compete.[4] She was the Belgian all-around champion in 2010 and 2012,[5] and she competed at the World Championships in 2010, 2011, 2014 and 2015.
| Julie Croket | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1 July 1994 |
| Gymnastics career | |
| Discipline | Women's artistic gymnastics |
| Country represented |  Belgium |
| Club | GymMAX vzw |
| Head coach(es) | Yves Kieffer, Marjorie Heuls |
| Retired | 9 October 2016[2] |
Personal life
Croket trained in Dendermonde at GymMAX vzw with her coaches Yves Kieffer and Marjorie Heuls. Along with doing gymnastics, Croket went to school to become a primary-school teacher.[5] Her favorite event is floor exercise.[6]
Gymnastics career
2010
Croket became the 2010 Belgian all-around champion with a score of 53.000 [7] She finished thirteenth with the Belgian team at the 2010 European Championships. She finished ninth in the all-around with a score of 53.375,[8] and she was a reserve for the floor final.[9] At the 2010 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, Croket and her team finished fifteenth.[10] In the qualification round, she finished 43rd in the all-around with a score of 52.782, and she did not qualify for the all-around final.[11]
2011
At the International Gymnix meet in Montreal, Croket won the all-around, vault and floor exercise titles. After being selected to compete at the 2011 European Championships, she stated, "My performance in Montreal gave me high hopes that I can perform well in Berlin (the location of the 2011 European Championships), I'm well aware of the fact that one mistake might involve big consequences. I hope to get that little bit of luck to perform to my utmost best." Croket finished twelfth in the all-around final at the 2011 European Championships with a score of 54.300.[12] She finished fourth in the beam final with a score of 14.150,[13] and fifth in the floor final with a 14.275.[14] Croket competed at the 2011 World Championships, and she finished sixteenth with her team.[15]
2012
In January, Croket competed in the London Prepares series. The top four teams at the event would be allowed to send full teams to the 2012 Summer Olympics,[16] but her team finished in fifth.[17] This meant that Belgium could only send one female gymnast to the Olympics. Croket competed at the 2012 European Championships where Belgium finished in sixth place.[18] She finished eighth in the floor final with a score of 12.866.[19] Croket was officially named as the Belgian gymnast for the 2012 Summer Olympics.[3] However, Croket tore her ACL at a competition in France a few weeks prior to the Olympics, so she could not compete. Gaelle Mys was selected to replace her.[20] Afterwards, Croket said in an interview, "I went through a very difficult time, because, well, from a very early age I have been working on going to the Games. That just had to be a very good experience. And when you know that you can go, preparing all your routines for it, and then something like this happens, so close to it. That hurts, a lot! But well, after the Olympics you have to get over it."[4]
2013–2015
Croket made her comeback at the 2013 FIG Challenger Cup in Anadia, Portugal, where she qualified for two event finals.[21] She was not selected for the 2013 World Championships team due to an elbow injury.[22]
Croket returned at the 2014 Novara Cup where Belgium won a bronze medal behind Italy and Spain.[23] She competed at the 2014 World Championships, her first major competition since 2011, and she helped the Belgian team finish eleventh.[21]
Croket sustained another injury and did not compete for most of 2015, but she returned in September at a friendly meet against Sweden and Austria.[24] She scored a 13.200 on the floor exercise, but then, she had to withdraw from the rest of the meet due to an ankle injury sustained during the vault warm-ups.[24] The injury turned out to simply be a sprained ankle,[2] but she could only compete beam at the 2015 World Championships. The team finished eleventh and qualified to the Olympic Test Event.[25]
2016
Croket began her season at the International Gymnix in Montreal where she placed fifth in the team competition along with Julie Meyers, Cindy Vandenhole, and Senna Deriks.[26] She then helped Belgium defeat Romania in a friendly meet, and she finished sixth in the all-around with a 53.950.[27] She was initially named the alternate for the Olympic Test Event, but she was added to the team to replace Cindy Vandenhole.[28] At the Olympic Test Event, Croket helped Belgium finish third which qualified them as a full team to the 2016 Olympic Games for the first time since 1948.[29] Croket was not named to Belgium's 2016 Olympic team,[30] and after this decision she retired.[31] In October 2016, Croket began coaching a girls' gymnastics team in Ghent.[32]
