Gymnastics World Championships: Dan Purvis has eye on Rio

SCOTLAND Commonwealth Games gold medallist Dan Purvis admits Rio won’t be far from his mind when he returns to the SSE Hydro Arena for the World Championships which begin on Friday
Dan Purvis: Rio looming. Picture: Andrew O'BrienDan Purvis: Rio looming. Picture: Andrew O'Brien
Dan Purvis: Rio looming. Picture: Andrew O'Brien

Purvis is no stranger to the big stage, having won World Championships floor bronze in 2010 before helping Great Britain claim the same colour medal in the team event at the London Olympics two years later.

The 24-year-old also has seven European medals to his name while last year he claimed parallel bars gold and team silver for Scotland at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games.

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That took place at the SSE Hydro Arena and Purvis is now gearing up for a return after being named in the Great Britain squad heading there for 
this week’s World Championships.

With Rio 2016 looming large on the horizon, Purvis is determined to prove his worth.

“It’s crazy, this cycle has gone so much faster than the last one. I’m not sure if that’s because I’m getting older!” he said.

“These Worlds are a massive stepping stone, just to get some consistency and keep that pressure up. There’s nothing like an Olympics.

“You get one shot every four years, and there’s less than a year to go. Keeping injury-free is the main thing, and trying to get in that team because there’s only five that can go, so this is dropping one member from this team.

“It will be a massive push, but that’s been my dream since 2012, to try to get to the next Olympics so I will do everything I can to get in that team.

“It will be fantastic. It’s been a long career and if I could go to one more Olympics it would be a dream come true.

“London 2012 was something that I’ll never forget. It was the best competition of my life. It was amazing, so if I could go to Rio and repeat that, that would be fantastic.”

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Great Britain can qualify a team for the Rio Games if they finish inside the top eight at the World Championships – something Purvis believes is well within their reach.

“I think first of all qualifying the team for Rio, that’s the main aim to go out there and do that,” he added.

“The team is a good mix of youth and experience. It’s great to see me, Max [Whitlock], Louis [Smith] and Kris [Kristian Thomas] still in the team from the Olympics.

“After 2012, it was always going to be difficult for the older guys to stay in the team but it’s great that we can have that experience and the younger guys, they’ve been looking good for a number of years now and it’s great to see them pushing.

“This squad has been really difficult to get into, so this is going to be a really strong squad. Ultimately, the harder it is to get into a team, the stronger the team is, so it’s an excellent mix.”

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