Melinda Cleland
Melinda “Min” Cleland (born 15 October 1984) is an Australian Olympic Gymnast and Aerial Skier. She completed in the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games in the Women’s Artistic Gymnastics team and went on to join the Australian Aerial Skiing team.
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Melinda Kara Cleland |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Born | 15 October 1984 Frankston, Victoria, Australia |
| Sport | |
| Sport | Gymnastics |
Athletic Career
Artistic Gymnastics (1992-2000)
Known to most in her career as ‘Min’, she began her gymnastics career at Gold Coast Gymnastics Club (Burleigh, QLD, Australia) at 8 years of age, eventually ending up at the Cheltenham Gymnastics Club & the Victorian Institute of Sport (which was then based in Cheltenham, VIC, Australia). She went on to become a scholarship holder at the Victorian Institute of Sport and a member of the Australian Gymnastics Team.
She eventually went on to be selected into the Australian Women’s Artistic Gymnastics team in the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, competing in Uneven Bars & Vault in the Women's Team event where Australia placed 7th. She retired in 2000 at 16 years of age.
Aerial Skiing (2002-2007)
In 2002, Skiing Australia asked Melinda to join the Aerial Skiing Development Program run out of Mt. Buller, VIC. She quickly went on to become a scholarship holder with the Olympic Winter Institute of Australia and a member of the Australian Aerial Skiing team.
A series of injuries led to her retirement in 2007 before her career really began.
Personal Life
Melinda Kara Coombes (maiden name was Cleland) was born 15 October 1984 in Frankston, Australia. She is of Scottish and Northern Irish descent.
Melinda married Matthew Paul Coombes in 2015. They reside in Sydney, Australia.
Education
Melinda attended Mentone Girls Secondary College (VIC, Australia) until year 10 and went on to complete her final years of secondary education at Robina High School (QLD, Australia) graduating in 2002. She completed a bachelor's degree in eJournalism (majoring in Public Relations) at Central Queensland University in 2008.
References
- "Melinda Cleland". Olympedia. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
- Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Melinda Cleland Olympic Results". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 21 August 2019.