Team GB gymnasts win Gold and Bronze medals in team events
15 Jan 2009
Great Britain sprung a major upset beating world superpower China to win the gold medal in the men’s artistic gymnastic team event at the Australian Youth Olympic Festival today.
Earlier in the day, the women’s artistic team gymnasts (Danusia Francis, Nicole Hibbert, Jenni Pinches and Nicole Watson) collected a Bronze medal in the team event to spur on their male team-mates to win Team Gold later in the afternoon.
In front of a packed crowd, the women’s team emulated the bronze they won two years ago with particularly pleasing performances by Francis on the floor and Hibbert on the bars. The only disappointment was an injury sustained to Pinches in the last rotation which prevented her performing on her strongest apparatus, the vault. A strong performance by the Chinese saw them take gold with Japan in Silver.
Commenting on the team’s performance Team Leader Vince Walduck said:
“This is a fabulous result for us to hold on to the bronze medal position. We had three excellent pieces and I was particularly delighted with the team’s floor element, as we had had some problems in training which they all overcame. We were challenging for a silver medal but the injury to Jenni Pinches unsettled the team a bit and we lost concentration and our final apparatus, the vault, was not our best.
“Danusia in particular is very much a performer, her acrobatics may not be up with the top few in the world but she has some wonderful dance qualities and that was really appreciated by the Australian judges. The routine was choreographed by a royal ballet school expert and it’s a special routine that people can really enjoy.”
Commenting on their results, the athletes added:
Hibbert: “We are happy. We didn’t do as well as we could have but we are really pleased with the bronze medal. We were quite nervous but it was all OK.”
Watson: “It was good fun today and an amazing experience.”
Francis: “I really enjoyed the floor, I was just trying to show the best of myself and I was really pleased with the score. It was fun to have the crowd clapping along. I like to express my personality like that. I’m looking forward to the individual finals now.”
Pinches: “I am disappointed that I wasn’t able to finish the competition and I was unlucky that the vault, which is one of my strongest pieces, was last but we managed to get a medal which is amazing.”
The men’s team (Reiss Beckford, Sam Oldham, Ashley Watson and Max Whitlock) obviously took heart from the women’s performance and against expectation beat China and Australia to take Team GB’s first gold medal of this Festival.
Cheered on by a large British contingent in the crowd, the team put in a good overall performance, with Beckford shining on the floor and vault and Watson on the parallel bars.
Commenting on their medal:
Whitlock: “I’m really pleased for the team today, this is a very special result. We all supported each other, it was very good. The girls really inspired us on with their medal this morning.”
Watson: “I had a really good high bar today. I tried to relax and it seemed to work for me, I came off very pleased. The women got bronze so we thought we had better up our game today and to win gold is just amazing.”
Oldham: “It’s only been five weeks since my injury and I was limited today with the pieces I could do but I’m pleased with my overall performance. Hopefully I’ll make the pommel final in the individuals and add another medal.”
Beckford: “It was a long day but I was really pleased with my floor and vault performances. We worked really hard. I visualised the routines in my head and worked hard on not getting too nervous and it seemed to work.”
Summing up the team’s day, Walduck said:
“It is a delight for the team. For the women to win a medal and then the men to win the first gold medal for the British team at this Youth Olympic Festival is amazing. This men’s team is made up of some exceptionally talented individuals and this is a fitting result for them.
“This squad is the basis of the team who won the Junior Europeans in 2008 and with that strength further successes around the world are going to follow. Hopefully these results will inspire the other British athletes back at the Team GB base.”
For further information including athlete interviews please contact Becki Middleton (Rebecca.middleton@boa.org.uk) in Sydney on 00 61 449279692 or Philip Wilkinson (Philip.wilkinson@boa.org.uk) on 00 61 424 229971.
You will be able keep up to date with the latest news and results from Australia on the BOA website: http://www.olympics.org.uk/ayof09/home.aspx
For free images of Team GB athletes at the AYOF take a look at: http://smartset.com.au/teamGB/