Alice an Oceania champ

by Nicholas Duck
Bona Vista gymnast Alice Johnson has continued to go from strength to strength after being crowned the Junior All Around Oceania Champion at the Oceania Artistic Gymnastics Championships.

The Brisbane-based event brought together the best gymnasts across Australia and New Zealand, with the 15-year-old taking home the individual gold as well as helping the junior women's team to a first place finish.

While it was her first time competing at the event it's far from the first accolade for the teenager, who last year featured at the FIG Artistic Gymnastics Junior World Championships.

Alice competed in all four apparatus - bars, beam, floor and vault - and finished first in bars, second on beam and third on floor to claim the all around title.
Australia enjoyed an excellent showing overall at the event as they also won the women's and men's senior events.

The Senior All Around Oceania Champion, Emily Whitehead, also came from Alice's home gym, the Waverley Gymnastics Centre.
"It was my goal (to be selected) so I was hoping for it. It's always exciting," Alice said.
"I was pretty happy with how I did."

Alice said she particularly enjoyed competing at an international event with a full team of five for the first time, having competed in a smaller team at the 2025 DTB Pokal Team Challenge Cup in Germany and flying solo at the world championships.

She and her teammates gave themselves the moniker 'Lemon Venom' - named for their bright yellow jackets.
Unfortunately, the news of her victory was spoiled early before she'd even had a chance to compose herself.

"I hadn't even got back to my bag yet and this drug tester goes 'congratulations on your win' and I was like 'what?'"
Despite that, she said she was proud of her efforts, especially in helping Australia to the overall win in juniors.

Alice and one of her teammates stayed after the event, entering competitions at the Queensland state championships to keep their skills sharp.

Alice will now turn her attention to the upcoming Victorian Gymnastics Championships and the Australian Gymnastics Championships just a few weeks later, having already earned qualification.