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World champion Lauren Mitchell and two of her 2008 Olympic teammates will be back this summer representing Australia at the Olympic Games, the Australian Gymnastics Federation announced Thursday.  Two-time Olympian Lauren Mitchell (Australia) Mitchell headlines the five-member Australian Olympic squad along with 2008 Olympians Georgia Bonora and Ashleigh Brennan, Emily Little and Larrissa Miller. Georgia-Rose Brown and Mary-Anne Monckton will travel with the team as alternates. "It's really exciting to have the opportunity to compete at my second Olympic Games and I'm thrilled to be heading to London with the team," said Mitchell, who turns 21 on July 23. The team was revealed after an Olympic training camp and trials that ended Sunday in Canberra, where 12 gymnasts had been in contention for the five spots. Mitchell, Australia's most titled gymnast in history, was all but guaranteed a spot on the team. Brennan, who won the Australian championships in May, was also considered a lock along with national runner-up Little. 2008 Olympians Daria Joura and Olivia Vivian also had advanced to the trials in Canberra. Both have been absent from international competition since Beijing. Joura had retired after a serious ankle injury, while Vivian competed four seasons for Oregon State University. Sixth in 2008, the Australian women qualified a full team again in 2012. Mitchell is a strong medal contender in London, where she could be the first Australian gymnast to grace an Olympic podium. She won silver medals on balance beam and floor exercise at the 2009 Worlds in London, and made history with the gold medal on floor at the 2010 Worlds in Rotterdam. "There are high expectations but at the end of the day I need to go in (to competition) and do what I do every single day in training," Mitchell told Australian television. National champion Joshua Jefferis, the 2006 Commonwealth Games champion, secured the only 2012 Olympic berth for the Australian men. "My goal for the Olympic Games is to qualify for all-around finals and compete well on rings and parallel bars to give myself the best possible chance of qualifying for those particular apparatus finals," Jefferis told IG on Tuesday. Read "Why I Came Back," a first-person narrative on Joura's comeback, in the July/August issue of International Gymnast Magazine. External Link: Australian Gymnastics Federation Comments (5)
brian bias
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... Ok so no offense to Bonora but I can't see her contributing a single score in TF. She literally has a pass on floor that ends with a full!!! Bars and vault also have SV's that would have been usable circa 1992. What was Peggy thinking?!?! |
chameleongirl
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... "No offense but" what a charming individual you are. Are you judging her 2008 performances alone, when she was coming back from foot injury? Bonora hit a clean beam and bars both days of the trial in Canberra while Monckton, Vivian and Brown didn't. According to Liddick, beam was what clinched it. She also managed to hit a decent vault which she initially wasn't going to trial. |
Rachel T
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I have to agree I have to agree with the above comment. Based on the floor routines that I have seen from Bonora, they seem quite simple with the most difficult element being a double back. These days I have seen the majority of collegiate gymnasts perform greater difficulty. I haven't seen her routine this year, so perhaps she has upgrade her routine to include a full twisting double back and other difficult elements. So we shall see I guess. |
Quiet Observer
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... I'm sure Bonora was chosen because of her stability. She must have been a rock at trials with routines like this BB routine from nationals. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTEqVhKL3ew - not the flashiest routine but it's hard to be steadier than that!!!! You have to give the edge to gymnasts that perform well under pressure. It's too bad Angela Donald never managed to be consistent. She was so impressive at the Youth Olympics. |
Nik
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... Actually I doubt she'll need to compete floor... she didn't even trial floor. She only trialled BB UB V so even if her floor contains a single layout it doesn't matter because no one in London will see it. FX will be Emily, Ashleigh, Larrissa and Lauren. Don't judge her on the apparatus she won't compete otherwise we'd all be saying "WTH?! why would you take ASac to worlds? Her bars are pathetic, she doesn't even have a release!" I'm pretty sure the goal of AUS is to MAKE team finals and provide a platform for Lauren to make FX/BB finals. 3 up 3 count isn't the focus. Though in that case Georgia would probably do only bars and beam... |
