Members of the British rhythmic gymnastics team, who will now go to the London Games after successfully overturning the decision of their own governing body, have hailed the decision as a "dream come true".
Britain will be represented in the sport for the first time at the London Games after an independent tribunal ruled that British Gymnastics had been wrong not to put the six-strong team forward for a home nation place.
At an Olympic test event in January the rhythmic gymnastics team failed to hit the qualifying mark set by British Gymnastics to take up a place at the Games during the two-day qualifying competition, falling 0.273 marks short. But the next day during the finals they easily attained the challenging mark – set at 82% of the winning score in the world championships – and scored 47.2 with their routines.
The arbitrator, Graeme Mew, ruled that, while accepting British Gymnastics had endeavoured to act in the best interests of the sport, it had been wrong to exclude the team on the basis that its qualifying criterion was unclear, a decision welcomed by the team's coach, Sarah Moon.
"We were very happy that it went to appeal, which gave us the fairest outcome. It's an amazing opportunity and it's right that we're going to be there."
Largely self-funded, the team — Jade Faulkner, Francesca Fox, Lynne Hutchison, Louisa Pouli, Rachel Smith and Georgina Cassar — had trained for six months at the University of Bath in a bid to hit the qualifying mark.
"We did believe in our case very strongly. We thought we could get it over the three days and we got the score on the carpet within those three days," said Fox, who put the confusion down to "crossed wires".
She added: "It's such a big thing. It's a dream come true. We're so proud of where we have come from. No one thought GB would even get a group together. We've made that possible. What we've done in the last year is amazing."
The team, whose case at the tribunal was put by Michael Beloff QC, will now focus on the European championships at the end of May before targeting the Olympic competition, which will take place at Wembley Arena.
British Gymnastics's chief executive, Jane Allen, defended the selection criteria but accepted the ruling of the independent Sport Resolutions tribunal. "We were confident that we had put in place a transparent, fair and equitable selection policy and associated qualifying score to allow a rhythmic group to self-determine their nomination to the BOA and subsequent participation in the London 2012 Olympic Games," she said. "The selection policy and its associated procedures have been thoroughly examined by an independent arbitrator and we accept his ruling."
source:http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/mar/05/london-2012-british-rhythmic-gymnasts?newsfeed=true
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