Gymnastics: Raising the bar

By DAVID LEGGAT at the Games

Four diminutive teenagers gave New Zealand gymnastics a vault of confidence on the international stage yesterday.

At the G-Mex Centre, a nattily converted railway station in the centre of Manchester, the Auckland quartet of Alethea Boon, Nicki Wells, Kate Brocklehurst and Belinda Castles got within 6.8 points of what would have been a remarkable podium finish.

And after two days of competition, an early contender has emerged for the New Zealand sports Big Improver of the Games award.

Eighth at the last Games in Kuala Lumpur, New Zealand gymnastics had set a target of fifth in Manchester in a nine-team field.

They went one better. Their total of exactly 100 points was 11.325 points behind the gold medal-winning Australians. England were second and Canada third.

For Boon, at 18 the oldest of the team and the only survivor from Kuala Lumpur, it was a day to savour.

Tears of delight flowed among the squad when it was all over, and as Boon reflected on the day, she happily played mother hen to the 15-year-olds, Brocklehurst - the youngest New Zealand athlete in Manchester - and Castles, who were contesting their first big international competition.

"Their training was awesome and they competed how they had trained. It's unbelievable, they held it together so well," she said.

The format called for all four to perform on four apparatus - uneven bars, beam, floor and vault - with the best three scores to count.

Boon's 9.025 on the vault was the best individual effort, and the team's scores were 26.150 (vault), 25.050 (uneven bars), 24.550 (floor) and 24.250 (beam).

Boon was the top New Zealand scorer on the bars and vault, 17-year-old Wells the pick on the floor, and Brocklehurst on the beam.

Their efforts ensured they would get the maximum three places permissable to each country in the field of 24 for the individual all-round final, which was held early today.

Boon was 12th best overall performer with 33.625 points, Wells was 14th, Brocklehurst 18th and Castles 21st.

Australians Allana Slater, Alexandra Croak and Sarah Lauren were 1-2-3, Slater top on 37.425.

Boon qualified for the vault and uneven bars individual finals tonight, and Brocklehurst and Wells are the first two reserves for the beam.

The quality of competition in Manchester cannot be compared with the Olympics or the world championships, dominated as they are by East Europeans and Americans.

Instead, it should be treated in its own right. There was lots of energy and enthusiasm and a steady improvement in overall standards.

And there is also the small matter of being able to point to finishing fourth out of a potential 72 nations.

New Zealand team officials tried to put into context what the four had achieved.

"The future of New Zealand gymnastics has gone up not one peg, but three or four," enthused section manager Steve Penman.

He did not need to add that the next time gymnastics knocks on the doors of the country's sporting banks they'll have a case for a larger handout.

Full coverage:
nzherald.co.nz/manchester2002

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