Gym Queens Ready to Reign in New Delhi
World championship medallist Lauren Mitchell will be joined in her quest for Commonwealth Games glory by fellow WAIS-AIS artistic gymnast Emily Little as the WA pair earned selection in the Australian gymnastics team for New Delhi.
WAIS IASP athlete and rythmic gymnast Janine Murray boosted the number of WAIS scholarship holders heading to India to three, after being named in Australia’s rythmic gymnastics team for Delhi.
The Australian women’s gymnastics team will be chasing their fourth straight team gold medal when they take to the floor at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium.
Mitchell, 19, was the toast of Australian gymnastics last year when she became the first Australian woman to medal in an individual apparatus final at a world championship, winning silver on the beam and floor.
Mitchell will be joined in the women’s team by fellow Beijing Olympians Georgia Bonora and Ashleigh Brennan from Victoria.
Bonora, 20, who was crowned Australian all-around champion two weeks ago, was the highest placed Australian at the Beijing Olympics finishing 13th in the all-around final.
After taking a year off to complete her Year 12 VCE studies after Beijing, Brennan has returned to the top and brings valuable Commonwealth Games experience to the team, the 19-year-old collecting team gold and a silver medal on floor at the Melbourne 2006 Games.
The women’s team will also have an injection of youth, with rising star Maryanne Monckton (15 from Newcastle) and Emily Little (16 from Western Australia) making their major championships debut.
The Australian men will be chasing their first team gold medal in Delhi, but will need to break the stronghold of England and Canada.
Four of the five team members from Melbourne 2006 return with 24-year-old Thomas Pichler from Queensland making his debut.
2006 world high bar champion Phillipe Rizzo will become the first Australian gymnast to compete at four Commonwealth Games. The 29-year-old commenced his international career at the 1998 Kuala Lumpur Games, and over the last three editions has added three gold, four silver and three bronze medals to his ever growing collection.
The experienced men’s team also includes 2006 Commonwealth Games all-around and rings gold medallist Joshua Jefferis, dual world championships pommel horse medallist Prashanth Sellathurai and recently crowned Australian all-around champion Sam Offord.
In rhythmic gymnastics Australia are yet to claim a team gold medal, Canada winning in 1994 and 2006 and Malaysia in 1998.
Beijing Olympian Naazmi Johnston will spearhead the three-member 2010 rhythmic team, which also includes Queensland’s Danielle Prince, and WAIS athlete Janine Murray who immigrated from Zimbabwe to Western Australia in 2002.
Johnston produced Australia’s best ever performance at a rhythmic gymnastics world championships last year, finishing 38th in the all-around competition and was the highest-placed Commonwealth athlete.
The 21-year-old was a member of Australia’s bronze medal rhythmic team at the Melbourne 2006 Games, and will be hopeful of improving on her fourth place in the all-around.
ACGA Chief Executive Officer Perry Crosswhite said that Australia will field a very experienced gymnastics team in Delhi.
“Traditionally our gymnastics teams have been quite young, however nearly half of the selected team competed in Melbourne in 2006 and will greatly benefit from that knowledge and experience when it comes to the 2010 Games,” Crosswhite said.
“Our strength lies with our talented individual apparatus gymnasts who have all excelled on the world stage namely Phil Rizzo, Prashanth Sellathurai and Lauren Mitchell.
“As defending champions, the women will start as favourites for the team gold medal, and although the men will encounter strong opposition from England and Canada they are also expected to be in the medal mix.
“In the rhythmic competition, Naazmi Johnston will be one of our best chances for a medal.”
Men’s and women’s artistic gymnastics was first introduced at the Commonwealth Games at the 1978 Edmonton Games, reintroduced in 1990 and has been on the program ever since. Rhythmic gymnastics was added to the schedule at the Auckland 1990 Commonwealth Games.
Australian women have won two all-around gold medals courtesy of Zeena McLaughlin (1998) and Chloe Sims (2006), and eight individual apparatus gold medals.
The Australian men have won 13 individual apparatus gold medals over time and two all-around titles – Jefferis in 2006 and Andrei Kravtsov in 1998.
Kasumi Takahashi has been Australia’s sole gold medallist in the rhythmic competition, netting a superb personal total of five gold and one silver in 1994.
Eight gold medals in the men’s competition and six gold medals in the women’s competition will be up for grabs from October 4 to 8 at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium. The rhythmic competition will feature six events from October 12 to 14.
– Gymnastics Australia and ACGA Media