[2] The family moved to Australia in 1997 when Vladimir Joura accepted an offer to coach at the Western Australian Institute of Sport (WAIS).

In 2005, Joura missed Nationals with an injury, but competed in several other events, including the Australian Youth Olympic Festival where she won a silver in the team competition and floor gold and the Japan Junior International meet.

Australia beat China in the team event, Joura went on to place 6th on uneven bars, 8th on balance beam and 2nd on floor behind Cheng Fei.

In preparation for the upcoming 2007 World Championships, Joura then competed in a similar dual competition against Japan, where she won gold medals in the team, all-around, vault and floor events, plus a bronze on beam.

In the preliminary competition, Joura fell on the uneven bars and balance beam, but stuck her Yurchenko-double vault and performed a floor routine that qualified her for the all-around final.

Joura began her Beijing preparations in 2008 by agreeing to write weekly columns for PerthNow, which is a division of Perth's Sunday Times Newspaper, about her progress.

She has written about her perspective on gymnastics, with details on her motivational techniques and her thoughts on travelling long distances for meets to her expectations for Beijing.

In March 2008, again alongside Lauren Mitchell, she travelled to the US for a training camp with the Olympic Squad and competed in two competitions while there: The 10th annual Friendship Classic and the Pacific Rim Championships in San Jose.

At the Friendship Classic, Joura won the AA, vault and uneven bars titles and placed second on the balance beam and floor.

Joura was a lock for the Olympic team after winning her third consecutive national all-around title in May, a feat matched by former WA competitor and Olympian Allana Slater.

She led the WA team to a silver medal, despite posting a world-best score on floor which included the debut of her double layout and a unique quadruple pirouette.

Right after Nationals, she jetted to Russia with Lauren Mitchell to take part in the Stars of Moscow World Cup, where she debuted the revamped floor routine on international soil and won the bronze medal.

When teammates Shona Morgan and Georgia Bonora qualified through to the all-around final, Joura was in the stands filming them on a camera she'd received for appearing on a Channel 7 talk show and speaking about her experiences.