The British Olympic Association (BOA) has announced today the 18 gymnasts who will represent Team GB across all three gymnastic disciplines at the London 2012 Olympic Games later this month. The announcement was made today at Loughborough University, where the Team GB Preparation Camp is located.
The Artistic gymnasts will kick off Team GB’s gymnastics campaign at London 2012, with the competition taking place from the 28th July to the 2nd August, and from the 5th to the 7th August at the North Greenwich Arena. The Trampoline Gymnastics competition will also take place at the same venue, on the 3rd and 4th of August. Rhythmic Gymnastics will be held at Wembley Arena from the 9th to the 12th of August.
The gymnasts selected to Team GB today are:
Women’s Artistic
Men’s Artistic
Trampoline Individual Female
Rhythmic Individual
Rhythmic Group
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Team GB will compete across five Olympic events in the Artistic, Rhythmic and Trampoline disciplines at London 2012, and will look to build on the bronze medal which Louis Smith won at Beijing 2008 to record Team GB’s first Olympic gymnastics medal for 80 years. Since then, British gymnastics has gone from strength to strength, with an unprecedented number of World, European and international titles won in the last four years.
Three-time World Champion Beth Tweddle leads the women’s selection. She is Great Britain’s most successful gymnast in history, and represented Team GB at Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008, where she narrowly missed out on a medal by finishing fourth in the asymmetric bars competition. Beth will look to carry the fine form she displayed at the 2012 British Championships last month, where she claimed double-gold in the bars and floor competitions.
Beth is joined by 23-year-old Imogen Cairns, who is regarded as one of Great Britain’s finest vaulters. After suffering injury troubles during the early stages of her career, Imogen is now firmly back on the international scene, and claimed two gold and one silver medal at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi. Fifteen-year-old Rebecca Tunney is also included in the squad, and she will be Team GB’s youngest athlete at the London 2012 Olympic Games.
In the men’s artistic competition, Beijing 2008 bronze medallist Louis Smith leads the team. He will look to build on his performance in Beijing, and reproduce the fine form he displayed at the 2012 European Championships in May, where he claimed team gold and pommel horse silver.
Louis is joined in the team by 21-year-old Dan Purvis, who claimed bronze medals in the floor event at both the 2010 World and European Championships. He also won the 2011 World Cup event in Glasgow, and finished last year as the number-one ranked male gymnast in the world. Nineteen-year-old Sam Oldham is the youngest member of the men’s selection, and made his senior debut at the World Cup in Cottbus last year, where he reached the final of the high bar competition. Sam is also the current reigning Youth Olympic champion in the high bar event.
Team GB Chef de Mission Andy Hunt said:
British Gymnastics Olympic Performance Director Tim Jones said:
Beth Tweddle said:
Louis Smith said:
Francesca Jones said:
Katherine Driscoll said:
Rachel Smith said: