GB Rhythmic gymnasts launch appeal

Britain's rhythmic gymnasts launch an appeal against their exclusion from Team GB for the Olympic Games, BBC Sport understands.

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GB rhythmic gymnasts miss target

Britain's rhythmic gymnasts miss the mark required to prove they are good enough for the the group event at the Olympic Games.

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Smith and Purvis win gold medals

Britain's Louis Smith and Dan Purvis win gold medals at the Olympic test event in London.

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Six gymnasts, a knotted ribbon and one big headach

The British women's rhythmic gymastics team are fighting their exclusion from the Games after apparent mix-up over rulesThe consequences of a single knotted ribbon have spiralled into a wide-ranging debate about Team GB's selection policy for the 2012 Games and the degree of leeway that should be afforded to sports for which it may be a once-in-a-generation showcase.The week after Britain's male artistic gymnastics team qualified for the Games in front of a packed crowd at the O2, the women's rhythmic gymnastics group narrowly missed out on qualification – thanks in part to that knotted ribbon – for a "home nation" place at the Games.Despite narrowly failing to achieve the required score on the Tuesday of the competition, they easily attained the mark the following day. They appear to have believed they could achieve the score during any one of the three days, whereas the governing body British Gymnastics insists it was made clear that they had just one shot at reaching the score.Quotes from the gymnasts on the Tuesday back up their version of events, with each appearing to believe they had one more shot at qualification. Given the high stakes, it would seem bizarre if no one at the governing body had noticed and taken them to one side to correct them.Almost every sport qualifies for a home nation place at the Games (barring one or two such as basketball that are at the discretion of the international federation), allowing British representatives to take part in many sports for which they wouldn't normally qualify. Handball is the most oft-mentioned example but there are others, such as volleyball, who are looking to 2012 to provide a shop window for their sport in terms of elite ambitions and grassroots participation.The British Olympic Association has laid down guidelines for each sport, insisting on not only a minimum level of performance but also for the governing body to demonstrate that it has a workable plan to develop the sport beyond 2012.It says the rules are there to guard against athletes turning up to "get the T-shirt" but in the case of rhythmic gymnastics the BOA has not even been required to make a decision because British Gymnastics has not put the team forward for selection.The team, largely self-funded, have lodged an appeal with British Gymnastics and have launched a petition calling on it to reconsider.Most of the public would doubtless like to see Team GB enter as many athletes in as many sports as possible, but there are wider considerations, not least the cost of doing so and the potential effect on the team dynamic of having hundreds of athletes with no chance of a medal living alongside those who do.In the curious case of the rhythmic gymnasts, it would seem harsh to exclude them given that they achieved the necessary qualifying mark under competition conditions. On the other hand, rules are rules. It would seem to be in the interests of both British Gymnastics and the BOA – not to mention the athletes and their families – to get to the bottom of just what the team were told as soon as possible.Grey-Thompson relives Atlanta's roadblock shock As if the hall in which we were gathered opposite the impressive remodelled St Pancras station wasn't cold enough, an extra shiver went through the room when Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson raised the "horrific" spectre of the 1996 Atlanta Games. The equivalent of mentioning the Scottish play in the company of luvvies, the reputation of that Games was blighted by the two big imponderables that make Games organisers come out in a cold sweat: a bomb attack and transport meltdown. Thompson recalled how some of her fellow competitors missed out on competing because buses got lost or delayed and that others were mired in gridlock.The Vancouver Winter Games in 2010 suffered similar early adverse publicity before winning over the public and competitors alike. Meanwhile, Boris Johnson (who may or may not be mayor of London by the time of the opening ceremony) is merrily insisting that transport will be the 2012 dog that doesn't bark and that fears of gridlock will turn out to be this year's Millennium Bug scare.But it will be another Millennium nightmare – that of the opening night of the Dome – that is keeping organisers awake at night. Much depends on commuters and spectators following the pleas from transport chiefs to change their habits and follow different routes, as dictated by a campaign that launched this week.History suggests that most travellers will do so, but only after they've been burned once. Organisers, despite their determination to maintain Johnson's air of insouciance, will be desperately hoping that the day of the opening ceremony is not the one on which they all decide to ignore the warnings.Cycling success just around the cornerThe announcement of the British team for the UCI Track Cycling World Cup has ratcheted up anticipation for the event, which will be the first held in the Olympic velodrome and begins on 16 February. The venue – universally praised for its form and function by critics and competitors alike – will be one of the stars of the Games. But it is not the venue but the performance of the British team, so crucial to the goal of hitting fourth in the medal table and the mood of the nation, that will be under the microscope. The designers of the building hope the team's chances will be boosted by the fact that, unlike at most velodromes, there are seats all the way around the track – a design feature recommended by Sir Chris Hoy to enhance the effects of home support.Team GBOlympics 2012: gymnasticsGymnasticsOlympic Games 2012Owen Gibsonguardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

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Team GB's rhythmic gymnasts appeal after missing q

• Team missed the benchmark in test event• Target exceeded in competitionnext dayGreat Britain's rhythmic gymnastics group have launched an appeal against their exclusion from the Olympics. The team missed the required score set by British Gymnastics in the group all-around qualifying competition at the London Prepares test event last week, meaning a nomination would not be submitted to the British Olympic Association for a host nation place at London 2012.But they exceeded the same target in competition the following day and in a statement on their website, www.gbrhythmicgroup.co.uk, the self-funded team of Jade Faulkner, Francesca Fox, Lynne Hutchison, Louisa Pouli, Rachel Smith and Georgina Cassar announced their decision to lodge an appeal. "At the test event the benchmark score we were required to achieve was set at 45.223 over two routines," the statement said. "We scored 44.950 over two routines on Monday and Tuesday and 47.200 over two routines on Wednesday. British Gymnastics has announced that a rhythmic gymnastics group will not be nominated for inclusion into Team GB for the London 2012 Olympic Games. We are appealing against this decision." PAOlympics 2012: gymnasticsGymnasticsOlympic Games 2012guardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

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Tower of strength - how to build a human castle, B

Castells - or 'human castles' - are a Unesco-recognised Catalan tradition and well-known tourist spectacle in Barcelona. Less well-known is the fact that anyone can join a Castell training session, by helping to form part of the human safety net at the bottom of the tower. It's a fun way to get an insight into this Catalan culture - and much closer to locals than you probably ever expected

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LONDON 2012: British rhythmic gymnasts confident i

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Bailey ready for the road to 2016 - starting at Eu

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Gymnast Gore looking at positives of Olympic reser

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