It’s that time in the quadrennial when sad stories like this appear:
Examiner – Israeli requirement puts Olympics in jeopardy for Maksyuta, Aronovich
Telegraph – London 2012 Olympics: qualification dream over for Great Britain’s rhythmic gymnastics group
Even if FIG approves your athlete for Olympics, most nations have additional requirements. “Evidence that the athlete will finish top half of the field”, for example.
In the case of GBR Rhythmic, it’s British Gymnastics that is refusing to nominate the team to the British Olympic Association.
I was involved in one of these dramas in 1999, the Canadian Olympic Committee initially unwilling to approve Kyle Shewfelt for the 2000 Olympics. (He was the youngest competitor.)
Kyle nearly qualified for Finals in Sydney and went on to be the most successful Canadian in history. It’s examples like this that coaches should cite as a reason to approve athletes / teams for Olympics.
It’s crazy that the host nation won’t approve their Rhythmics Team. Imagine what kind of boost the sport would have in the U.K. with all that Olympic exposure, regardless of result.
Leave a comment if you know of other athletes who made the Olympic qualification standard, but were denied participation by their own nation.
Gymnastics Coaching.com 