The athletes have arrived.

So have the coaches, the delegates, the support staff and the judges.

And the volunteers — they’ve come out in full force, the type of group effort that has made Kamloops famous.

The only thing needed to make the 2010 Canadian gymnastics championships absolutely perfect, says Moira Gookstetter, is fan support.

“It’s spectacular to watch — I love this sport,” said Gookstetter, the chief executive officer of Gymnastics B.C., and a co-chair of nationals. “I think that everybody should have an opportunity to watch this.”

The gymnastics championships open today at the Tournament Capital Centre, and will run through Saturday. Former and future Olympians and national champions will make their way to the TCC to put on a show of gymnastics the likes of which haven’t been seen in these parts.

“The level of skill of gymnastics is what you would see at an Olympic Games,” Gookstetter said. “To bring that to Kamloops . . . people really would be thrilled to watch some of this.”

Around 600 athletes have signed up to take part this week, and 300 coaches, delegates, judges and other officials also are in town. Kamloops has done its part so far, with around 350 volunteers offering a hand.

“The turnout of volunteers and the support from the community has been amazing,” Gookstetter said. “We really have what we need — big events usually struggle for volunteers, but we have people signing up every day.

“It’s a true testament to the city of Kamloops.”

The event unofficially got underway Monday, when competitors were afforded practice time, but the official beginning is today, 3 p.m., when qualification in the women’s junior artistic starts. The women’s senior artistic qualifying is to open at 7 p.m.

Wednesday’s action begins at 8 a.m., with the women’s team novice qualification, while the trampoline events are to begin at 9 a.m.

The competitors are spread out at accommodations around town — some are at the TRU dorm, some are at the McGill on-campus housing, some are at Upper College Heights, and Team B.C. is staying at a hotel.

“We had some support from the United Way,” Gookstetter said.

“They donated some single beds for us to use at TRU . . . to stretch the TRU space as much as we could.”

Among the scheduled competitors are Karen Cockburn and Jason Burnett, both of whom have won medals at the Olympics, and both of whom are to represent Ontario.

Cockburn, 29, is a 10-time Canadian champion in the women’s trampoline, winning every year from 1998 to 2004 and 2006-08. She also has won two Olympic silver medals (2004 and 2008) and an Olympic bronze (2000).

The only other person to win Cockburn’s division at the Canadian championships in the last 12 years, Rosannagh MacLennan, also will be here. MacLennan, 21, trains with Cockburn and Burnett at Skyriders Trampoline Place in Richmond Hill, Ont., and has teamed with Cockburn to win a world championship in synchronized trampoline. She won national gold in 2005 and 2009.

Burnett is a four-time Canadian champion, and picked up a silver medal in the trampoline at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Other notable faces are Olympians Nathan Gafuik of Alberta and Ken Ikeda of Abbotsford.

There are two local hopes at nationals — Lauren Hoot of the Kamloops Gymnastics Trampoline Centre will be competing in the Novice 15-plus double mini trampoline, while Scott Nabata of KATTS will be going for gold in the high performance tyro event.

Nationals is a big meet for hopefuls looking to qualify for the world championships and the Commonwealth Games, and even the 2012 Olympic Games in London, England.

“The Canadian championships have always been an extremely important competition for athletes moving on to international events,” Gookstetter said. “This is one of the stepping stones for those who want to make the Commonwealth Games team and the world championships.

“It’s important that these athletes striving for those competitions have good showings here.”

mhunter@kamloopsnews.ca