• London Olympics 2012

Rhythmic gymnasts get 2012 nod after winning appeal

ESPN staff
March 6, 2012
The rhythmic gymnasts have won their appeal to feature at the London Olympics © Getty Images
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Great Britain's rhythmic gymnasts have won a place at London 2012 after a decision to exclude them from the Games was overturned.

As other sports have done in the run-up to the Olympics, British Gymnastics imposed a target score that would prove the team were ready to compete on the international stage.

The team narrowly missed their target of 45.223 by just 0.273 marks, before complaining that the qualifying criteria had not been explained fully. Independent arbitrator Graeme Mew agreed with their grievances and ruled in their favour at a London hearing.

"It's been a tough journey but we're so happy," said gymnast Rachel Smith. "We want to prove to everyone that we do deserve to be there and to make the country proud."

Sarah Moon, the team's coach, told BBC Radio 5 live: "It's a huge relief. It's fantastic news. The girls were really upset, they'd been told that was it and it wasn't enough, but they've been training hard and got themselves back together. This weekend we went to an international competition in Sweden and won it.

"Now we've got a lot of preparation competitions to attend - we'll be working hard on those and getting on with the job in hand."

There was never any dispute over whether Britain would be allowed a spot for the rhythmic gymnastics team event at London 2012, but the team were required to prove their worth at January's Olympic test event inside London's O2 Arena.

Confusion arose when the team failed to hit their points target during day two's qualification stage - supposedly the day when they had to reach their objective - with the team insisting they could achieve the required standard on day three.

British Gymnastics and the BOA declared that day three's results would not count towards 2012 qualification, but Mew agreed that the team had been confused by the process and decided to reinstate them.

The final team will be announced in early June, with a deadline of July 3 in place for British Gymnastics to nominate athletes for Team GB selection.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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