Early Life and Career
Allana Slater was born in Western Australia on 3 April 1984. She is an only child. Her father died in 1997 in a plane crash in Indonesia while she was competing in the Junior Pacific Alliance Championships.
Slater began gymnastics in a toddler program at Kalajos School of Gymnastics at 16 months of age, at the suggestion of a family doctor, who thought it would help treat her sleep apnea and increase her strength. When she was 5 years old, she was spotted by talent scouts from the Western Australian Institute of Sport (WAIS) and invited her to join their elite development program. She began training in the WAIS program just after her 6th birthday. Slater made her national competition debut at the age of 9 and her international debut at 11.
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