Emmanouela Frroku

The financial crisis that gripped Greece in 2009 began Greek-born Emmanouela Frroku’s journey to representing Australia at the Olympics.

Emmanouela’s mother is an Australian citizen and when their company collapsed as the Greek economy crumbled, the family migrated to Australia and settled in Sydney.

“We didn’t want to leave (Greece), but after losing our business, our options were limited,” Emmanouela’s mum Athanasia said.

Emmanouela first started rhythmic gymnastics as a five-years-old in Greece. Before her ninth birthday she had already won her first medal, a bronze at the Greek national championships.

“Our first priority, when we moved to Australia, was to find a club for her to continue practicing this sport, as she was doing so well in Greece,” Athanasia said.

Within a year, Emmanouela was winning Australian championship medals as a junior. At the 2022 Australian junior titles, she won gold medals in ball, ribbon and team.

Emmanouela is now part of the Aspire Gymnastics group, which will compete in group rhythmic at the Paris Olympics.

The group – Emmanouela, Saskia Broedelet, Jess Weintraub, Lidiia Iakovleva and Phoebe Learmont – performed well throughout 2023, winning medals at competitions such as the Sofia Cup in Bulgaria.

The group won a quota for Australia with a victory at the 2024 Oceania Continental titles in Budapest, Hungary. The championships were run in conjunction with the European titles.

It is just the second time an Australian rhythmic gymnastics group has qualified to compete at an Olympic Games.