Long, long post but I have been watching this unfold and as a mother of a young rhythmic gymnast who was a spectator at the O2 I am rather worried by the decisions being made by British Gymnastics.
I think the issue is far more complicated than not being good enough to go to the Olympics based on the score for one routine out of four over the three days. The routine in question underscored by less than .3 and the group were not allowed to appeal on the day....even though every other group had appeals upheld and scores uplifted.
Funding was more or less withdrawn from rhythmic gymnastics by British Gymnastics a couple of years ago, and distributed to other gymnastic disciplines. Some, such as aerobic and acro gymnastics are not Olympic sports. National squads were disbanded and the National coach made redundant. The remaining money was then invested in a single rhythmic gymnast (in part because so much money had already been spent on her development) and she has been given a wild card to compete based on a lower qualifying mark than that set for the rhythmic group.
However, a number of senior gymnasts were keen to try and put a group together for the Olympics, especially as group work is the way the sport has been able to recruit and keep new gymnasts (this is one of the criteria for the sport as a whole to get central funding). As the article states the group is entirely self funded and several of the girls have suspended A levels and University to train over the past nine months with an inspirational coach. British Gymnastics have not supported this effort in any meaningful way since the squad was formed, preferring instead to promise to ring fence money for 2016 (when the current squad will have moved on from the sport).
The girls were informed that they had to qualify over the three days of the test event. They did this. They exceeded the benchmark set, and were hoping that British Gymnastics would stop justifying withholding the wild card on the much quoted basis that they did not want the group to be an embarrassment at the Olympics. Instead the girls were told that the goalpost had been moved and only the scores from the first two days would count (and that the lowest score could not be appealed).
I was present on the final day. The girls performed brilliantly and competed shoulder to shoulder with the international teams. There was a wonderful atmosphere in the arena and the girls had rousing support from all the spectators, many of whom were unaware of the fight they had had to get there. There is no danger that they would embarrass British Gymnastics or dent National Pride! The fact that the girls knew that their dream had come to an end, and still managed to rally themselves to surpass any previous score demonstrated a very pure Olympic spirit.
In so many ways their efforts represent the true spirit of the Olympics - gifted amateurs volunteering time and money for the honour of representing their country.
They were given an random score to achieve and they exceeded it by two marks (I am not an expert in Rhythmic Gym, honestly! But I believe that the individual gymnast had to score 70 something percent of a world champion score, the group 80 something percent. So you can see that if they had been given the same percentage score as their individual colleague they would have qualified easily). In reply to mollymole - I don't think for a minute that the squad believe they should have a place as a right, but because they worked so hard to reach the benchmark, surpassed it and were still denied a chance to qualify. This is the basis of their appeal.
The wild card does not take a place from any other country and several of the groups who have qualified internationally are bewildered by the refusal of British Gymnastics to let the squad have the card. Leaving to one side the fact that the group reached the qualifying score, wildcards are basically gifts bestowed to enable a host country gain more representation across the games. There is a place reserved for the squad but their parent body will not let them take it up.
Rhythmic Gymnastics was one of the fastest selling Olympic tickets and it seems such a shame that there will be no national group representation. Both individual and group gymnasts have no hope of a medal, or in fact of not coming last, but do all deserve to be in the opening ceremony and have their moment at Wembley. For many talented sportspeople a host nation games is the only time they will ever represent their country at that level, not because they don't have the potential to compete at a high level but because as a country very few sports are effectively funded or organised at grassroots.
I think the appeal is most probably a lost cause as British Gymnastics don't seem to value the sport enough to let the group compete, but if anyone would like to sign the petition, the link is as follows ....
Petition