The upcoming Commonwealth Games in Glasgow sees a different team configuration from the Australians. Contrary to previous years and the standard 5 member teams, the Australians have gone with one All Arounder and four Event Specialists. With a lack of depth across all four apparatuses in the national squad, the Australians have stacked their team full of potential event final medalists. Particularly strong teams from Canada and England will potentially end the Australian’s stranglehold on the team final gold medal, but knowing this team, they won’t go down without a fight.
The Team Final
In a 5 member team situation, countries would ideally send three strong All Arounders and two event specialists (who, ideally, work opposite apparatuses). Whilst Australia could have gone with this, they instead decided to go with their highest scoring event specialists and fill in the gaps, thus forgoing the potential for multiple AA medals.
Where Australia will most likely come up short is on vault. Unless significant upgrades have occurred since nationals, they will have only three Yurchenko fulls to perform, where as Canada and England most likely have at least one DTY and are probably not vaulting below a 1.5. The Aussies do however have a very strong bar lineup, with Larrissa Miller, Mary-Anne Monckton and Olivia Vivian all with potential for high scores. Finally, with Lauren Mitchell anchoring the team on beam and floor exercise, she too has the potential to pull in big numbers and keep Australia in the team medal hunt. The team will need to be near flawless but they will undoubtedly put up a strong fight.
The All Around
After sweeping the podium in 2010 and winning gold and bronze in 2006, Australia will have only Georgia Rose Brown compete the AA in Glasgow. Georgia competed multiple times on the international stage this year and was beginning to put together some solid results including a bronze on UB at the Pacific Rims.
Georgia was also leading the national championships after night 1 but withdrew early on night 2 with a foot injury. If she can hold her nerve and avoid any major mistakes, Georgia’s beautiful lines and elegant style will put her up in medal contention.
The Event Finals
The Australian’s are obviously focusing greatly on the event finals for the majority of their medal haul. Other than vault (where we do not have any gymnasts competing two vaults), they will be looking to qualify two girls into each final. The UB final should be particularly interesting with England’s Beckie Downie, the recent European champion sure to have a strong routine. She will come up against a resurgent Larrissa Miller who had a stunning routine with great difficulty at the Australian Championships where she scored as high as 15.475. Former collegiate gymnast Olivia Vivian has also worked hard to upgrade her routine to world standard and has scored a 14.650 this year.
Over on beam, a mistake to Lauren Mitchell saw Mary-Anne Monckton clinch the national title after she won a bronze in Doha with a 14.7. Known for her steeling determination under pressure, Lauren will be one to watch in beam finals having scored a huge 15.5 at nationals, where she was looking like she’d never left the sport. Lauren will also be looking for some redemption on floor, where she took home her only silver medal four years ago. While she will no doubt be looking to improve on her nationals performances (which had a few small form and out of bounds errors), the former world champion is capable of huge routines under pressure. Miller, Brown and Vivian will fight it out for a second finals spot but will face tough competition, especially from powerhouse Canadian, Victoria Moors.
The Australians have sent a very strong, very experienced team to Glasgow but the members still surprised some of the public. The lack of AAers in the competition and the absence of national champion Georgia Godwin perhaps most surprising. Despite this, Australia has undoubtedly maximized its medal potential by stacking the team with specialists.
Although the depth across all the events may not be there, with two Olympians, a world champion, a collegiate gymnast, two Olympic alternates and 4 world championship competitors, experience on the big stage is not an issue. England and Canada may have the numbers but if they show any vulnerability, the Aussies will be ready and waiting reap the rewards.
Article by: Tracy B