GB women seal London place
Great Britain's women's artistic gymnastics team clinched their place in the World Championship final and 2012 Olympics.
Last Updated: 08/10/11 5:39pm
Great Britain's women's artistic gymnastics team clinched their place in the World Championship final and 2012 Olympics in Tokyo on Saturday.
Knowing they had to finish at least eighth in the qualfying event to progress, GB did just that as they pipped Italy and France to the final place in the coveted top eight.
That not only guaranteed their place in Wednesday's team final in Japan, but ensured the hosts will have a full complement of gymnasts in the women's events at the Games next summer.
The British team of Beth Tweddle, Becky Downie, Hannah Whelan, Danusia Francis, Imogen Cairns and Jenni Pinches recorded a cumulative score of 220.553 points.
The United States led the way by qualifying with a total of 234.253.
Thrilled
British Gymnastics Olympic performance director Tim Jones was thrilled with the outcome.
Jones told the British Gymnastics website: "This result is massive for us.
"We were very clear when we came to Tokyo that almost the sole goal was to support our men's and women's team to get the best results possible and to make the top eight.
"We didn't want to go through the second-chance saloon of having to qualify through the test event in January and so today was a job well done.
"We are clearly not at the very high level of the USA, Russia, China, Romania but we are making inroads and it's all credit to the girls that they came here and did the job, and we now look forward to London 2012."
Tweddle missed out on a place in the bars final but advanced to the final on the floor, which takes place on Sunday, October 16.
Fraught
The three-time world champion explained the fraught wait to learn whether Britain had tied up a top-eight place.
Tweddle said: "The last few minutes were tense. We saw Japan go ahead of us and until we had France's score confirmed on the scoreboard, we didn't want to take it for granted.
"Even if it's only just, it doesn't matter. We've got that top-eight spot and a team to 2012, that's what we came for. As soon as we were stood waiting for that score, I think all of us just wanted to cry."
Whelan's all-round score of 55.465 put her in 17th place and earned her a place in Tuesday's final.
