Brits on the ball
Great Britain's rhythmic gymnastics group took one step closer to the Olympic Games.
Last Updated: 16/01/12 7:32pm
Great Britain's rhythmic gymnastics group took one step closer to the Olympic Games at the London Prepares test event at the North Greenwich arena.
The team is aiming to hit a benchmark score of 45.223 in the group all-around competition in order for a nomination to be submitted to the British Olympic Association to accept a host nation place.
The qualification is being held over two days, and the GB team - Jade Faulkner, Francesca Fox, Lynne Hutchison, Louisa Pouli, Rachel Smith and Georgina Cassar, who did not perform on Monday - completed a clean ball routine to score 23.100, with the decisive ribbon and hoop routine on Tuesday afternoon.
It puts them in a strong position to reach their target with the second routine, and Sarah Moon, coach of the GB rhythmic gymnastics team was satisfied with their performance.
"I'm really happy," she said. "There was a few small errors but nothing major and a good score so we're happy with that.
Dramatic
"Tomorrow's ribbon and hoop routine is a very dramatic routine and the girls really enjoy performing it, so I'm hoping with this audience the girls will enjoy it tomorrow.
"We just have to go clean or as clean as possible, so if the girls get their heads into it we'll be fine and I'm confident we'll hit the benchmark score."
Smith, who also will perform in Tuesday's routine, said: "I think we did a really good job and we've proven to everyone that we deserve to be here.
"We had a feeling that it was going well and as soon as you get that feeling you begin to relax a bit and concentrate to the end. I think we did a good job."
Rhythmic gymnastics will be held at Wembley Arena during the Olympic Games, with this week's test event being used as the second and final qualifying competition for London 2012 to decide five individual qualification places and four group places.
All-round
Britain's only representative in the individual all-around rhythmic competition was Francesca Jones, the highest ranked Briton at last year's world championships in Montpellier, who has already been granted a host nation place at the Games.
Jones was the second gymnast of the day to compete and scored 20.550 in her ball routine before a more confident performance with the hoop earned her 22.475.
It left the five time British champion in 25th and last place after the first day with a combined score of 43.025, with the ribbon and club routines taking place tomorrow.
"I was disappointed especially with my first piece of apparatus but it was the beginning of the season and I've got a lot of work to do," Jones said. "There'll be days when things go wrong and there's nothing you can do about it.
"I need to try to forget the mistakes I made today and put as much as much effort I can into tomorrow and do better routines I hope."
