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Mitchell qualifies despite injury

Jonathan CookThe West Australian
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WA’s Lauren Mitchell kept alive her hopes of claiming Australia’s first Olympic artistic gymnastic medal, despite an abdominal injury which required intensive treatment in the lead up to yesterday’s qualification at the North Greenwich Arena.

Mitchell, who won world championship gold on the floor in 2010, produced a steady floor routine yesterday morning, scoring 14.833, and then had several anxious hours to wait as her rivals completed their rotations.

But she need not have worried, as several of her expected rivals fell short of the mark under the scrutiny of some tough judging.

Although Mitchell insisted any flaws in her routines had been purely due to nerves, it was later revealed she had gone into the Games with an abdominal tear that had troubled her during a podium session on Thursday.

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She now has nine days to recover before pushing for an Olympic medal in next Tuesday’s final.

Australia were in the second of five qualification sections and had to wait until early this morning (WST) to learn of their fate. WA’s Emily Little and Victorian Ashleigh Brennan qualified for Thursday’s individual all-around final but Australia failed to make the team final.

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Immediately after Mitchell’s qualification round, the four-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist conceded her hopes of featuring in the beam final had evaporated with a costly mid-routine wobble.

She was right. But her floor exercise placed her fifth and ensured she became just the third Australian artistic gymnast to reach an Olympic individual apparatus final.

Before the long wait for confirmation, Mitchell refused to use injury as an excuse for her jitters on the balance beam.

“Physically I’m fit, technically I’m fit. It was just a bit of nerves,” she said.

“It’s Olympic Games. It only comes around once every four years and even though you just say it’s like any other competition, the atmosphere is completely different. It’s a lot more intense than everyday training.

“I put out a good floor routine under the circumstances.”

While Mitchell held together her floor sequence, she almost fell from the beam mid-routine but managed to regain her balance when it seemed gravity would have its way. The loss of balance was a major factor in the judges scoring her 14.300.

“At podium training I had a few troubles on floor and even warming up today I had a few troubles and I’m just glad I stood on my feet,” she said.

The 21-year-old went into the Games under enormous pressure as Australia’s best hope of breaking its artistic gymnastic medal drought.

She admitted to feeling the pinch and had worked closely with the team psychologist in the lead up to competition.

National team coach Peggy Liddick described Mitchell's injury as a "little ab strain" but suggested the long break before the final would be of great benefit.

She was disappointed with the errors on beam from Georgia Bonora and Ashleigh Brennan, which proved costly to the team, which finished 10th.

“My prediction coming into the Olympics was that our team would finish somewhere between sixth and 10th," Liddick said.

“We didn’t have the difficulty to be in medal contention as a team. Unfortunately we finished at the other end of 6 to 10. Two silly mistakes from veterans that you don’t expect cost us. I have no explanation for why it happened.

“The two falls cost us four places ... that’s how close it was. If we had of done a normal job we would have qualified comfortably.

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