At the olympic test event the group met the international qualifying mark but on the first day of competition, narrowly fell short of the higher mark set by British Gymnastics as the cut-off for sending them to the games. Even more heart breaking, they showed the very next day they were up to standard by beating the same mark on the second day.
The team is appealing the decision of BG saying they believed they were allowed to meet the qualifying mark on any of the 3 days of the competition. A decision should be made by 5pm GMT today.
I have some mixed feelings about this. If BG did set a firm cut-off and did make it clear then there would be no reason to go back on it. However, if the team met the international standard then surely even if they are not expected to reach the medals, they should have the right to compete. Any sport with a british interest will gain for interest of the public and not allowing these athletes to compete makes no sense in my eyes. This has only brought bad publicity for British Gymnastics and is not (as I see it) in the spirit of the Games.
Read the BBC's news report on this story here. I'll update this post when the results are out.
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