Kirsty Durward

Kirsty Elizabeth Gerlach (née Durward; – 13 September 2020) was a New Zealand gymnast. She won a bronze medal representing her country in the women's all-around team event at the 1978 Commonwealth Games.

Biography Gerlach was born Kirsty Elizabeth Durward in Te Puke in about 1959, one of six children of Lois and Peter Durward. She was educated at Rotorua Girls' High School, becoming a national gymnastics champion, and won a full scholarship to California State University, Long Beach when she was 17 years old. From 1977 to 1980, Durward won four consecutive silver medals in vault at the AIAW National Women's Collegiate Gymnastics Championships.

In 1981, Durward married her Long Beach State gymnastics coach, Steve Gerlach. A 25-minute documentary film, called Kirsty, about Gerlach's illness, was made by a film student, Keziah Manabat, from the South Seas Film and TV School, in 2019, and was a finalist at the 2020 Watersprite Film Festival in Britain.

Gerlach died from her illness on 13 September 2020.