Little Selected as Australia Chases #Rio2016 Qualification
Australia’s women’s artistic gymnastics team will face a make or break challenge at next month’s Rio Test Event to determine their Olympic qualification fate.
Needing to finish in the top four of eight competing nations, Australia will miss qualification for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games if they are unsuccessful with this objective.
WAIS gymnast Emily Little has been selected in the six-strong Australian squad, that will tackle the Test Event held in the Olympic city between April 16-18.
Australia will vie for one of four remaining qualification spots with; Brazil, France, Belgium, Germany, Romania, South Korea and Switzerland making up the eight nations in contention.
Australia missed automatic qualification for Rio 2016 at last year’s FIG World Championships in Glasgow, where the team’s 14th ranking saw it narrowly short of the 12 nation cut-off.
2012 London Olympian Little will be joined in the Australia team by; Larrissa Miller, Georgia-Rose Brown, Rianna Mizzen, Emma Jane Nedov and Emily Whitehead.
Australia will be without World Championship representative Mary-Anne Monckton, after the Victorian suffered an ACL injury following a fall on bars at the team’s training camp at the AIS in Canberra last weekend.
The team was already without WAIS gymnast Lauren Mitchell, who herself is rehabilitating from an ACL injury sustained in late 2015. Mitchell is expected to be fit and available for Olympic selection, should Australia qualify a team spot in Rio.
The Australian squad will get the chance to finalise its preparations for the Test Event, when it competes at the Pacific Rim Championships in Everett, Washington from April 8-10.