Olympic Dream Still Alive...

Australia's top all around gymnasts recently competed in the selection trial for the London Prepares Series (Olympic Test Event) to be held in January and Pacific Rim Gymnastics Championships to be held in March. The closed trial was held at the Institute of Sport, where 4 senior gymnasts were competing for 2 spots for the Olympic Test Event and 3 spots for Pacific Rim.

We started competition on the Floor Exercise and I drew the short straw to start first. The pressure was on. I was trying a new routine with a start score of 6.4 and comprises of 6 tumble passes, which has to be squeezed into 70 seconds. I managed to work through the routine with no major errors. Then onto Pommel, where I had to compete last. From competing first on floor to last on Pommel there was quite a wait, plus I had to watch all the other gymnasts compete before me, which made me even more nervous. Anyway, I muscled through the routine and stayed on with not too many errors.

Rings was next, where I held all my strength solidly and landed the dismount with not much of an issue. Next was Vault and I did a clean back double twist with a step on landing. Parallel Bars was next and coming into the competition I was have a little difficulty with some of my skills. Fortunately, I nailed the routine and with only a small hop on the dismount.

We finished the competition on Horizontal Bar, where I was once again last to compete. With everyone finished competition, I remained focused to get through my routine and landing my dismount with no movement what so ever. It was a great way to finish one of my best competitions.

Following the competition, I placed first all around with a personal best score of 86.35. I also top scored on 5 of the 6 apparatus to gain selection into both the Olympic Test Event and also the Pacific Rim competition to be held early next year. This selection is the first of three steps for Olympic Games selection, to see how this works, click here.

Below are the gymnasts selected:

Olympic Test Event
Thomas Pichler   |   Samuel Offord

Pacific Rim Championships
Seniors - Thomas Pichler, Joshua Jefferis, Samuel Offord

Juniors - Brody-Jai Hennessy, Lachlan Savill, Corey Morton