No USA Women at the London 2012 Test Event

No USA Women at the London 2012 Test Event

Dec 8, 2011 by FloGymnastics Admin
No USA Women at the London 2012 Test Event
From USA Gymnastics: 
 
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind., Dec. 7, 2011 – According to the list of qualifiers released by the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG), the United States is eligible to send gymnasts in men’s and women’s gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics and trampoline to the Olympic Test Event in London, Jan. 10-18.  For rhythmic gymnastics and men’s trampoline, the USA will be seeking to qualify for the 2012 Olympic Games.  The United States has already qualified for the Olympics in men’s and women’s gymnastics and women’s trampoline.

For artistic gymnastics, the U.S. will send two men to participate at the Olympic Test Event, Jan. 10-13. The U.S. men will compete in Mixed Group 6 in Subdivision 3 and start on the vault on January 10.  The top eight men on each apparatus in the preliminary round advance to the individual event finals.
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This seems like an odd decision as it would be a valuable competition experience for US women's Olympic team contenders. Most recently, the US Delegation sent Briget Sloan and Chellsie Memmel to the Beijing Test event (held in December of 2007) and both athletes were ultimately selected to the 2008 US Olympic Team. 
 
The US has a strong group of junior gymnasts moving up to the senior ranks at the turn of the new year who could strongly benefit from this international experience. Additionally, it would give them a slight edge at the Olympics, should they be selected, by competing on the equipment and in the London arena before the real thing.  
 
Included in this group are 2-time US Junior Champion Kyla Ross, the beautiful former Floor National champion Sarah Finnegan and her GAGE teammates Brenna Dowell and Maddie Desch. Other current US junior national team members eligible for the 2012 team are Texas Dreams gymnasts Kiana Winston and Kennedy Baker who is great on bars, Brianna Brown from Cincinnati, Elizabeth Price of Parkettes, and Mykayla Skinner of Desert Lights.
 
The two men to represent Team USA at the Test Event are yet to be named, though I suspect a likely candidate will be Sam Mikulak, reigning NCAA All Around Champion who missed the 2011 Visa Championships due to ankle injury while representing the US at the Puerto Rico Cup over the summer. He looks to be a strong contender for the 2012 team as seen in this recent training video