Ben Wilden

Ben Wilden (born 24 April 1985 in Murray Bridge, South Australia) is an Australian trampoline gymnast. He is a former national champion in trampoline sports and represented Australia at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing as the country's sole representative in trampolining.[1]

Ben Wilden
Country representedAustralia
Born (1985-04-24) 24 April 1985
Murray Bridge, South Australia
HometownAdelaide, South Australia
Height1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
DisciplineTrampoline gymnastics
LevelOlympic Games
Head coach(es)Nikolay Zhuravlev

Personal life

Wilden completed his schooling at Murray Bridge High School and Hamilton Secondary College in South Australia. He first started trampolining in his backyard 1994, and only a year later competed at the National Championships in trampoline sports, finishing with second place.[2]

Competition

Wilden has won a number of junior and senior titles in trampoline and has competed at both an Australian national and international level.

Youth Olympic Festivals

In 2001, Wilden competed at the inaugural Australian Youth Olympic Festival, receiving silver in the synchronised trampoline event. He followed this achievement by winning gold in the same event at the Australian Youth Olympics in 2003. Wilden openly credits this as one of the highlights of his trampolining career because he hyperextended his knee the week prior to the competition, but was still successful in his pursuit for gold.[2]

2008 Beijing Olympics

In 2007, Wilden was selected as a wildcard to represent Australia in the 2008 Beijing Olympics as the country's sole representative in trampolining. His Games entry was gained on the back of his performance at the previous years' World Trampoline Championships in Stuttgart, Germany in which Wilden was the highest-placed Oceania performer of the Championships.[3]

Wilden narrowly missed the Olympic final, receiving total score of 67.10 to finish 13th overall.[2]

References
  1. Aussie trampolinist Ben Wilden misses Olympic final Archived 8 October 2009 at the Wayback Machine, The Australian.
  2. Australian Olympic Committee: Ben Wilden, Retrieved 2011-11-24.
  3. Aussie Trampolinist Ben Wilden misses Olympic final, Adelaidenow.com. Retrieved 2011-11-25.
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