Gymnast Vanessa Ferrari gears up for Beijing (Reuters via Yahoo! News) Vanessa Ferrari likes Formula One, red is her favorite color and she responds readily when her coach tells her to put her "foot on the gas." Publish Date: Wed, 02 Apr 2008 00:04:45 GMT Read more...

Vanessa Ferrari getting ready for the 2008 Beijing Olympics! She's high-flying, and energetic. [quote]Fronting Italy's gymnastics team for August's Beijing Olympics, Ferrari began in the sport when she was seven. "In the beginning it was like a game," she told Reuters after performing a routine on the asymmetric bars at her new gym in the northern city of Brescia. But, tumbling and bouncing for more than 30 hours a week, she now knows how serious the game is. Unlike most girls of her age, she has no time for shopping, let alone dating. "I'd like to go out with friends but I train twice a day, then I go to school and at night I go home," said the softly-spoken gymnast. "Love? No, not now," she whispered. "Now there's gymnastics. It's a very important moment in my life. I try to focus on training." "I'm very excited, I'm preparing myself as best I can, but I'm not thinking about that yet," she said, sitting barefoot.[/quote] related: http://www.gymchat.com/messageboards/viewtopic.php?t=69 - video she loses her hair scrunchie on her floor exercise at Nationals, and keeps going [quote]Endurance is one of Ferrari's strengths, Casella said, while scrutinizing her performance on the balance beam. Fans call her "the cannibal" for her competitive drive, a nickname which sits uneasily with her slight, 33-kg frame. [/quote] Good coach individualizes workout to fit for each gymnast, Italian Coach Enrico Casella: [quote]Casella, a former rugby player and a nuclear engineer, has drawn up a training programme with personalized charts for each athlete on each apparatus, and constantly updates them. "Our athletes are different from each other. We also have fewer gymnasts than other countries," he said, tapping away at his laptop. "I have to do my best with these athlete-machines."[/quote] Gym move from swimming pool to modern facility: [quote]Ferrari has grown up at the Brixia gym, which takes its name from the Latin for Brescia, the town where she trains. Founded two decades ago, the gym was housed in a swimming pool until last year, when medals finally drew sponsors and the team moved to modern facilities. [/quote] Anyone have pictures of the gym housed in a swimming pool?