Great results for Australians at Denmark World Champs

A young and inexperienced Australian team, weakened by the loss of Monette Russo and Chloe Sims to injury prior to the Championships, produced the competition of their lives to finish sixth in the world and qualify for the prestigious team final. Hollie Dykes and Dasha Joura qualified for the women's all around competition and Dasha Joura also qualified for uneven bars final.

CEO Jane Allen was delighted with the result:

"The team result was truly amazing when you consider only two of the six gymnasts had experienced a world championship before. They displayed great poise under pressure with a consistent and near faultless competition round. Their outstanding performance on uneven bars ensured them a place in the team final with every gymnast contributing to a team apparatus score of 59.99 points which was second only to the all conquering USA team on the night.

Although all gymnasts contributed to the result, it is only fitting that the performances of Melody Hernandez and Georgia Bonora receive special mention. Both these gymnasts stepped up when the opportunity was presented to them - Melody Hernandez was competing in her first international competition since suffering a serious leg injury only 12 month ago and Georgia Bonora made her international debut at this event."

The team consisted of:- Hollie Dykes (AIS), Melody Hernandez (AIS), Dasha Joura (AIS/WAIS), Olivia Vivian (AIS/WAIS), Karen Nuygen(AIS/VIS), Georgia Bonora (AIS/VIS/Waverley Advanced HC).

Still to come - Dasha Joura (12th qualifier) and Hollie Dykes (14th qualifier) in the WAG All Around Final and Dasha Joura in the Uneven Bars final.

Meanwhile, tThe Australian men's team recorded Australia's best ever result at a World Championship when they finished the team competition in 14th place today in Aarhus Denmark. This world ranking of 14th is the best result for a men's team since 1999 when the team finished 15th in China.

As well as an outstanding team result, Australia has qualified for two event finals. Philippe Rizzo returned to his best form since 2001 qualifying FIRST for the final on High bar with 15.575 points and Prashanth Sellathurai showed his world class routine on the pommel qualifying second with 15.700 points. Both gymnasts are great chances in the event finals to win a medal.

Josh Jefferis completed a great competition for the Australians by qualifying for the All Around competition in 14th place with a score of 89.67 points.

Allen witnessed the performance in Denmark stating;

"This is a fantastic result for men's gymnastics and it will certainly be a boost for the sport in Australia. All the team members should be extremely proud of their performances. Consistency and clean execution were the key factors with the Australians only recording one fall in the entire competition.

The team score of 356.175 is only two points away from 12th position (the Olympic team qualifying mark) and the Australian men's team are a real chance of creating history in Stuttgart in 2007 by becoming the first Australian Men's team to achieve Olympic qualification.

This result could not have come at a better time for us. After a disastrous team result in 2003, changes made to the national program two years ago are now starting to bear fruit for Gymnastics Australia and the AIS/SIS/SAS network."

Team members are: Phil Rizzo (AIS), Josh Jefferis (AIS), Prashanth Sellathurai (AIS/NSWIS), Sam Simpson (AIS/QAS), Sam Offord (AIS/SASI), Tom Pitchler AIS/QAS).