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The Roller Coaster Continues

To get down to the short of it, I still have a chance to compete at the Olympic Games. It's now a 50% chance with Gymnastics Australia having to choose either myself or Joshua Jefferis to be the one Australian to compete at the Games.

So how did I get to this situation? Back in November Gymnastics Australia held a trial to select two gymnasts to compete at the Olympic Test Event. This was Sam Offord and myself, with Joshua Jefferis as reserve. The three of us then attended a training camp in Canberra in mid December to prepare for the Test Event. Following this we had a short two day Christmas break before flying to Waveney, UK, on Boxing day. The Canadian and British teams joined us in Waveney and we had a friendly competition against them as a final practice run.

Unfortunately, Sam Offord injuried his ankle on Vault and although he tried to continue, he was ruled out of the Test Event just two days out. This meant that Joshua Jefferis stepped up and competed in Sam's place.

Joshua and I competed in the Test Event having to make the cut off line for the individual athletes not part of the top 12 teams. Competition started strong on Vault, with the first three apparatus competed with no issues. Then a slip up on the Floor Exercise and a fall on Pommel meant that I was closer to the cut off line then I wanted. With a nervous 24 hour wait for confirmation, I managed to make the cut off line along with Joshua and now we go head to head.

So how does Gymnastics Australia choose which one of us competes at the Games? They will be sending both Joshua and I to a number of competitions between now and the Games to determine which one of us will best represent Australia as an all arounder or on an individual apparatus. The decision is likely to be made in late May, early June. The first competition is at the Pacific Rim Championships in the USA in March.