Last night capped one of Australia's best ever Commonwealth Games campaigns, with our men's and women's artistic teams winning gold in the same Games for the first time ever. That was followed up by some superb individual performances that will surely boost confidence before next week's World Championships.
Here's some online press and pictures from last night's finals...
ABC Online
International Gymnast Online
Herald Sun
"I think I expected maybe one medal in the team and that was it,'" she said.
"This is definitely, definitely up there with [2009] Worlds."
Sydney Morning Herald
Sydney Morning Herald (2)
Gymnastics Australia reminds us of the team's spectacular medal haul:
Gold (9):
Men's - Team
Women's - Team
Mitchell - All-around
Pichler - Floor
Sellathurai - Pommel Horse
Mitchell - Uneven bars
Offord - Rings
Jefferis - Parallel bars
MItchell - Beam
Silver (3):
Little - All-around
Bonora - Uneven bars
Mitchell - Floor
Jefferis - All-around
Bonora - All-around
Sellathurai - Pommel horse
Brennan - Floor
And a belated Happy Birthday shout out to gold-medal-winning team member Georgia Wheeler! She turned sweet 16 yesterday (and what better present than a Commonwealth Games gold medal and a trip to Rotterdam, hey?)
So who do you guys think will make the world team? We know Larrissa is definitely an in, but could Wheeler be displaced by Simpson?
ReplyDeleteJust trying to think of prelims
VT:
Brennan (FTT)
Miller (FTY)
Bonora (FTY)
Mitchell (DTY)
Little (DTY)
UB:
Simpson mid 5s or Wheeler 5.1?
Little 5.3
Bonora 5.3
Mitchell 5.5
Miller (around 6.0)
BB
Little 5.5
Simpson (5.7) or Wheeler (5.2)?
Brennan high 5s
Bonora high 5s
Mitchell 6.3
FX
Little 5.3
Miller (Peggy praised her camp floor)
Bonora 5.0
Brennan 5.3
Mitchell 5.8
So basically we need a person for UB/BB. Wheeler has a history of fluffing beam routines, and Simpson has a .5 buffer in DV.
Would it be worth giving Simpson a shot to get some experience, since we are not really gaining any advantage from Wheeler's bars anymore?
Wheeler would only be useful if she could do her 5.6 set from Vics, but with the 5.1 and the sloppiness in that routine she had at CWG she is bound to be one of the lower scorers.
Simpson is also nice on floor, very elegant.It would be nice to see Sipson compete, afterall she has overcome so much in the last three years to bring her to where she is now. Cheers for Simpson. Considering Peggy's comments from camp re her "elegence" she may be worth the try.
ReplyDeleteYes it would by great to see Georgia Simpson to compete at worlds. Nothing against Georgia Wheeler but it would be good to see GS get some experience. I would be surprised if she competed floor though as i would expect Lauren, Emily and Georgia B to compete AA, I'd be surprised if Ash didnt compete floor and I think Peggy seemed impressed with Larrissa's fllor at ca
ReplyDeleteFrom GA web site:-
ReplyDeleteAnyone for a little nostalgia?
If so tune into James O'Loughlin's 'Sundays' radio program on the ABC tomorrow night between 6.30 and 9.00pm, to hear from 1998 Commonwealth Games all-around champion Zeena Mumme (nee McLaughlin).
Zeena will be a guest of the program, talking about her life after gymnastics. For those of you who don't know, Zeena recently gave birth to her second daughter.
Zeena won five medals in KL and remains one of Australia's best performers at a Commonwealth Games.
You can listen to the program by following this link
Georgia Simpson will be 16 on the 19th of this month..hope she will be able to compete at worlds.
ReplyDeleteLogically it seems Simpson is worth a try, but I don't know if they actually will. Maybe they will want to work with the same team chemistry and not mix it up too much.
ReplyDeleteI still think that Wheeler is unfortunately not very helpful to the team at this point, as much as I suspect she will be in future.
I just think Commonwealths shows what a huge danger it could be putting someone known to be very inconsistent on beam in the lineup. And on bars, to me at Commonwealths she looked a lot worse than earlier in the year at Paris and Pac Rim.
This is OT, but I read this on the VWHPC site
ReplyDelete'Georgia Rose Brown has recently been named in the Australian team who will compete in the Combs La Ville and Massilia Cup competitions in France during November. '
Anyone know who else is going?
Georgia Simpson at the Massilia Cup after Worlds.
ReplyDeleteI have heard talk of this meet in relation to Donald and McGrath too - MLC site mentioned it a while back as a possibility.
ReplyDeleteI do wish the QLD 95ers (Wurth, Joura, King Koi, Clarke) and WA girls Nikki Chung and Ashley Cooney could get a turn though since this lot got the POYC. And Svet Sanders deserves a go after her silver at nationals in the AA.
I think it's important to give a range of girls experience and also the incentive to keep training hard.
Interesting that Simpson might go. Anyone heard of any other seniors? I would love to see Lorenzin before the year is out, either here or at national clubs. Has she recovered from her injury?
She is getting there
ReplyDeleteNikki Chung is going to both comps and as far as I know Joura is going as well. Simpson as an individual gymnast.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately I think that probably means Peggy has already relegated Simpson to reserve, and must be giving her Masillia as a consolation prize.
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear we have a few juniors going. How do they pick for this kind of thing? Was it at the August camp? I have heard Nedov's name in relation to this comp as well which would take the possible list to
McGrath
Brown
Nedov
Chung
Joura
Donald
Seems kind of unlucky for Mayo, Svetlana and Katie.
I guess they can't take everyone. Svetlana has got to the one that is really unlucky after finishing second AA at nationals.
ReplyDeleteEven though it doesn't look like Georgia Simpson is getting a go at worlds but I am sure she will still be happy to compete in the other comps.
Hey guys. We have been discussing Dasha Joura on WWGym today. Has anyone heard any news about her progress lately?
ReplyDeleteSvety got ripped off!!! Nedov isn't even a senior next year anyway.
ReplyDeleteGeorgia Simpson is going from WAIS not GA.So it cannot be a consolation prize from Peggy.
ReplyDeleteI gotta say, I am excited about our 2012 prospects discussing all these girls. Lauren said on camera this week that she wanted to go to London. I think Bonora and Brennan will have moved on by then, but nonetheless we have some great hopes.
ReplyDeleteThere is Mitchell, Miller, maybe Dasha as a base.
Then there are those who are recent seniors but haven't reached their peak:
Britt Greeley
Zoe Lorenzin
Mary Anne Monckton
Georgia Wheeler
Emily Little
Georgia Simpson
Sophie Budack
Then there are 1995ers:
Georgia Rose Brown
Svetlana Sanders
Tierra Exum
Ashley Cooney
Nikola Chung
Emma Collister
Angela Donald
Clare O'Donnell
Isobel Looker
Amelia McGrath
Katie Wurth
Amaya King Koi
Natalia Joura
Shar-Lee Clarke
Then there are a couple of 1996ers
Naomi Lee
Emma Nedov
Ashleigh Kittl
Kristina Ostojic
Stella Savvidou
Plenty of lovely gymnasts there to pick from.
oh and I forgot Laura Hingston, Ebonie Boucher and Grace Claringbold.
ReplyDeleteI definitely think Lauren will look towards London. I agree that Georgia B and Ashleigh may have moved on. By the sounds of it Georgia seems to have constant trouble with her ankles and given what she has achieved it would not surprised me if she retired soon. Ashleigh's aim seemed to be CWG but I guess she hasn't ruled out London. I have heard Peggy talk about the importance of experience so I think she would like a couple of gymnasts who have gone to an Olympics before and I think at the stage Lauren looks like the most likely to continue, I know a lot can happen between now and then. I noticed you mentioned Dasha as a possibility and an eariler poster asked about her progress. Does anyone know anything about how she is going? Is there any chance of her returing to competition? I would love to see her back but given how long she has been out I would be a surprised if she returned.
ReplyDeleteDasha Joura was an absolute star! I would love to know how she is going, and if she is planning on returning to international competition. She gave Aussie gymnastics style!
ReplyDeleteIt was rumoured she was moving to Queensland to be with her family, but I don't know what the implications for her training would be - whether she would continue at QAS or decide to move on.
ReplyDeleteI pray she comes back, but I'm not getting my hopes up. How perfect a fit would she be with the current team, as we totally need an extra great bar worker after Miller and greater depth on vault. Now that Mitchell has come of age competitively I can only dream of a floor lineup of something like McGrath, Mitchell, Joura in TF at London.
ReplyDeleteDasha is in QLD now
ReplyDeletedo you know if she is training?
ReplyDeleteShe has been spotted training in the gym. She is in great shape too :)
ReplyDeletemaybe the chances are better than we thought :)
ReplyDeletemight she turn up at national clubs this year, for one or two events only?
ReplyDeleteGymnasts being selected for teams also depends on where they are in their training schedule and if that particular competition suits them at that time - some of the girls may be upgrading in time for National Clubs and two weeks away from training can be a disruption so it just depends.
ReplyDeleteHopefully GA will announce the team soon so we know exactly who is going.
ReplyDelete