Jakarta pulses with the energy of the 2025 FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships, and at its heart are the athletes carrying the South African flag. In this charged arena, the narrative of South African Gymnasts on the World Stage 2025 is written in quiet resilience, sharpened routines, and the kind of composure that comes only from years of hard lessons learned.
Three stories rise to the surface in Indonesia Arena, each distinct and deeply human. Caitlin Rooskrantz, a five-time Worlds campaigner, is rediscovering rhythm after injury. Buhle Nhleko, just 20, is tasting her first World Championships with calm intent. Luke James, the lone male in a five-strong team, competes through the pain of a finger dislocation, determined to turn a setback into fuel. Together, they reflect a program intent on progress, one routine and one experience at a time.
A steady comeback for Caitlin Rooskrantz
In a stacked uneven bars qualification featuring 119 gymnasts, Rooskrantz posted 13.400 to place 21st overall, a result that put her second among African athletes and just shy of the final. On balance beam she scored 12.433 for 31st, again second among African gymnasts, a firm sign that her control and consistency are back in circulation.
What the scoreboard does not show is the checkpoint that came a month earlier. At the Paris World Challenge Cup, Rooskrantz reached fourth in the uneven bars final, a performance she called a mental and physical turning point after returning to international competition following injury. That campaign, and the assurance it provided, carried into Jakarta with a new steadiness.
“Paris was definitely a mental and physical checkpoint for myself. It was my first international since the Olympic Games, after recovering from injury. Getting back out there was about seeing where I was at, and assuring myself that I would be fine going into the World Champs.”
There is maturity in how she frames pressure these days. The nerves remain, but they have been recast into purpose. She notes that her style and confidence have evolved, a translation of experience into expression, and it shows in the clarity of her work under the bright lights of Jakarta.
“You always want to deliver and see your training pay off. But I think my confidence and style have changed a lot. I’ve proved what I’m capable of, and that translates into my gymnastics now.”
Rooskrantz keeps her focus close and immediate, with the Commonwealth Games and the trials that precede them forming her primary target. Jakarta, her first major competition in Indonesia, has offered fresh stimulus, from the heat and humidity to the vibrant feel of the arena and training halls. All of it reads like a reintroduction, one marked by assurance and a refined competitive edge.
Buhle Nhleko steps into her first worlds
Nhleko arrived in Jakarta with meaningful competition miles in the legs after the Paris World Challenge Cup, where she finished top 16 on vault with 12.750 and added 10.466 on floor. She calls Paris both preparation and opportunity, a staging ground for cleaner execution and an uptick in confidence as she entered her Worlds debut.
“Paris was both preparation and opportunity. The goal is to focus on being the best I can possibly be and to improve on my last scores with clean, confident routines.”
For Nhleko, wearing the green and gold is also about purpose. She speaks openly about visibility and access, noting that exposure within South African gymnastics can be scarce. Competing at the sport’s apex is a way to widen the lens back home, a signal to the next wave that their ambitions belong on big stages too.
“In South Africa there’s not much exposure when it comes to the sport. We have so much talent, but without exposure, opportunities are limited. Competing on big stages like this is about more than us, it’s about showing young gymnasts back home what’s possible.”
The technical path is carefully measured for Team South Africa, with a steady raising of difficulty tempered by attention to execution and recovery. Nhleko frames it simply and effectively, a process mindset that places trust in the balance between the work and the rest.
“You have to build recovery into your training just as much as the work itself. If you manage both the marginal gains and the recovery, then everything comes together.”
She is not walking this path alone. The women’s squad includes Olympians Caitlin Rooskrantz and Naveen Daries, with strong bonds built at JGC Gymnastics Club in Johannesburg under coach Ilse Pelser. That familiarity shows in how the group calibrates around one another, finding the right mix of quiet time and motivation on the road.
“We’ve become very familiar with each other, we know what each of us needs, whether it’s some quiet time or a bit of motivation.”
Her own anticipation for Indonesia has been threaded with gratitude and composure, a debut wrapped in perspective. She welcomed the warm weather and the chance to test herself on another new stage, a step forward for an athlete whose rise has been incremental and deliberate.
Luke James shows resilience after finger injury
James arrived in Jakarta with momentum, then faced a jolt in the final days of training. A dislocation to a finger on a demanding Suarez skill on parallel bars forced a tough recalibration, limiting his program to floor and vault. The decision to compete through discomfort was measured and brave, rooted in a promise to represent his country at a competition he had dreamed of since childhood.
“The dislocation happened on a Suarez skill on parallel bars. This is the second time I’ve dislocated a finger on this skill, which is upsetting, but as the skills get harder, that’s just the nature of the sport.”
On qualification day he posted 11.9 on floor, then delivered a total of 13.25 on vault, numbers that did not fully mirror his ambitions but did reflect a determined response to an untimely setback. His verdict on the performance was honest, and his reframing was emblematic of his competitive maturity.
“I am a little disappointed in how I performed. However, there is so much to learn in failure. I gave myself 24 hours to be upset and disappointed, and then I flipped the script.”
A scholarship athlete at the University of Nebraska, James is already a headline figure on the American collegiate scene, and he is also the reigning African champion on floor and vault after wins in Marrakech last year. The World Championships have added another layer to his education, from equipment differences to the hum of a television-saturated arena, all under the canopy of genuine Indonesian warmth.
“The arena was just stunning. The equipment was quite hard for me to get used to, definitely different from what I’m used to in the States, but I just did my best over the week to adjust.”
He is candid about the tradeoff between preparation and health. In the rush to be ready, he says, it is easy to overshoot the body’s limits, an insight he intends to carry forward as he maps the next steps in his career. The injury, he notes, is a reminder of sport’s unpredictability, not a verdict on his trajectory.
“Going forward, I’ll definitely be more conscious of looking after my body, making sure that when the time comes, I’m ready to compete and feel healthy.”
The bigger picture for Team South Africa
The South African delegation in Jakarta comprises five athletes, four women and one man, with James the sole male competitor. The women’s group features Olympians Caitlin Rooskrantz and Naveen Daries, joined by Zelme Daries and Buhle Nhleko, and together they form a blend of experience and debut energy. The connective tissue is strong, from shared training bases to shared intent.
There is a coherent strategy at play. Raise difficulty in increments, respect execution, and bake recovery into the plan so that the peaks arrive on the right days. Nhleko’s framing of marginal gains, Rooskrantz’s steadiness after Paris, and James’s adjustments after injury all speak to a program that values long-term growth. It is the kind of approach that turns near-misses into finals, and finals into medals.
The representation itself carries weight beyond outcomes. Nhleko’s words about exposure land with force, because visibility can be a catalyst for opportunity. Each routine in Jakarta becomes a postcard to young gymnasts in Johannesburg, Cape Town, and beyond, a proof point that the journey is real and reachable.
What these performances tell us
Rooskrantz’s top-21 finish on bars against one of the deepest fields of the season, and her second-place standing among African athletes, suggests a return to competitive sharpness that is both physical and mental. Her 12.433 beam score adds a second apparatus of credible stability, a valuable signpost for the season ahead.
Nhleko’s Paris numbers, especially the vault mark of 12.750, give her a platform to build on in Jakarta and beyond. The language of her process is deliberate and disciplined, which aligns with the technical arc South Africa is trying to trace across the quad. First Worlds, first set of lessons, first layer of confidence under championship lights.
James’s campaign, filtered through the lens of injury, reveals an athlete whose mindset is as notable as his power on the floor and vault. Competing on two events was a compromise, but the scores supply useful data under pressure, and his reflections on preparation and health signal a valuable recalibration. The hospitality, the scale of the arena, the camera-scape of a World Championships, all of it becomes part of an athlete’s tool kit.
Key takeaways
- Rooskrantz’s results point to a comeback carried by consistency,
- Nhleko’s debut is grounded in process and incremental gains,
- James’s resilience under injury pressure offers a blueprint for growth.
Inside the arena and beyond it
There is an undeniable atmosphere around Jakarta this week, from the bright training halls to the heat that settles over warm-ups. Rooskrantz has embraced the new surroundings, and James has spoken glowingly about the hospitality that greeted the athletes. That environment matters, because it can turn a high-stakes week into a positive memory bank that supports future competitions.
Within Team South Africa there is comfort too. Athletes who train together at JGC with coach Ilse Pelser carry a kind of shorthand into competition, a familiarity that can steady nerves before a salute. That dynamic is not just about technical polish, it is about the small human calibrations that competitions demand, from a quiet word to a grounding routine.
The road ahead
Targets are set in steps, not leaps. For Rooskrantz, the Commonwealth Games remain the next major objective. For Nhleko, the focus is on clean, confident routines that carry her upward through each meet. For James, the near horizon includes recovery, then a return to full apparatus range with an upgraded approach to training loads.
What binds these paths is a shared clarity. The South African program is not chasing shortcuts, it is committed to the grind of repetition, to marginal gains and smarter recovery, to the confidence that comes from doing the right things, often and well. The results in Jakarta, measured across apparatus and circumstance, suggest that this compass is set in the right direction.
In the end, the signature of this campaign is its humanity. A veteran finding her rhythm, a debutant finding her voice, a fighter turning pain into purpose. If you look closely, you can see the outlines of what is possible for South African gymnastics, not in a single headline or a single score, but in the accumulation of moments that make a team stronger. That is the story of South African gymnasts on the world stage in 2025, a story written in patience, belief, and the courage to keep going.
