Gymnast Imogen Cairns has overcome an injury sustained just after her Olympic debut in Beijing two years ago to win selection for England’s Commonwealth Games team.

She will join 10 artistic and three rhythmic gymnasts, named by English Gymnastics and Commonwealth Games England today, for the Delhi Games next month (October 3-14).

Melbourne 2006 gold and silver medallist Cairns, originally from Devon but now living in Portishead, suffered damage to both of her feet during a floor exercise at her first competition after Beijing.  She has since had two operations followed by six months on crutches and only returned to impact training at the turn of the year.

“I loved the Commonwealth Games and had such a great time in Melbourne,” she said. “My goal was to be there in Delhi.  That is what has kept me in the sport”.

Cairns will be joined in Delhi by 2008 Olympians Marissa King and Rebecca Wing as well as 2010 European team silver medallist, Jocelyn Hunt.  Laura Edwards, making her senior debut in Delhi, completes the women’s artistic line-up.

The men’s squad includes 2006 Commonwealth Games team bronze medallist Luke Folwell as well as senior international debutants Reiss Beckford, a 2009 Australian Youth Olympic all-around silver medallist, and Max Whitlock.
 
Steven Jehu and Danny Lawrence complete the men’s team.  For Lawrence, Delhi will be third-time lucky. The full-time fireman was reserve for the 2006 team and was under consideration for selection in 2002.

England finished third behind Australia and Canada in the artistic gymnastics medals table at the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games with two gold medals, two silvers and two bronzes.

England’s three rhythmic gymnasts have also been announced today to compete at the Games in Delhi.

Rachel Ennis, a former Commonwealth Championships gold medallist from Hendon Gym Club, returns to the team having made her debut in Melbourne where she helped England to a fourth place finish in the team event.

Ennis will be joined in Delhi by two young gymnasts from the City of Bath club, Francesca Fox and Lynne Hutchinson.  Both have just completed an intensive two-week training camp with their club at the University of Bath’s Sports Training Village.

Hutchinson and Ennis will travel onto Delhi having competed at the world senior championships in Moscow in late September.

Craig Hunter, England’s Chef de Mission for Delhi said:  “I wish the rhythmic gymnasts all the very best in Moscow and all the gymnasts every success in their final Games preparations as well as in Delhi for the Games”.

Gymnastics makes its seventh Commonwealth Games appearance at the Delhi Games.

Louis Smith, on the pommel horse, was one of England’s two gold medallists in Melbourne. The other was Cairns in the vault. She had earlier won four gold medals at the Bendigo Commonwealth Youth Games.

Shavahn Church added silver on the asymmetric bars in Melbourne, while England’s women won silver in the team all-around competition and the men’s team took bronze.

There are 14 artistic gymnastics competitions at the Delhi Games. Men contest the floor, pommel horse, rings, vault, parallel bars and horizontal bars, as well as the individual all-around and the team events. Women also have team and individual all-around competitions, and also compete on four pieces of individual apparatus – the floor, vault, asymmetric bars and beam.

There are six rhythmic gymnastics contests in Delhi – the team, individual all-around, rope, ball, hoop and ribbon competitions.

The 2010 Commonwealth Games take place in Delhi, India, from 3 to 14 October 2010. They will feature 17 sports - archery, aquatics (swimming, synchronised swimming & diving), athletics, badminton, boxing, cycling, gymnastics, hockey, lawn bowls, netball, rugby 7s, shooting, squash, table tennis, tennis, weightlifting and wrestling. With the 2012 Olympic Games in London and the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Commonwealth Games England is entering a breath-taking four years of sport.

Commonwealth Games England (GCE) is the organisation responsible for selecting and organising England's team at the Commonwealth Games. England finished second to Australia on the medal table at the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games with 36 golds, 40 silvers and 34 bronzes.

Sport England is responsible for building the foundations of sporting success, by creating a world-leading community sport system of clubs, coaches, facilities and volunteers. Their focus is growing and sustaining the numbers of people taking part in sport and improving talent development to help more people excel.

Artistic gymnasts selected for Commonwealth Games

Name, DOB, Place of Birth, Current Residence

Women’s Artistic Gymnastics:
Marissa King, born 20.04.91, Cambridge; lives Cambridge.
Imogen Cairns, born 26.01.89, Bristol; lives Portishead, North Somerset.
Laura Edwards, born 01.03.94, Hounslow, London; lives Brockenhurst, Hampshire.
Rebecca Wing, born 15.07.92, Frimley, Hampshire; lives Farnborough,
Hampshire.
Jocelyn Hunt, born 15.11.94, Portsmouth, Hampshire; lives Fareham, Hampshire.


Men’s Artistic Gymnasts:
Reiss Beckford, born 17.02.92, London; lives Enfield Middlesex.
Luke Folwell, born 15.05.87, Northampton; lives Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire.
Danny Lawrence, born 15.11.83, Rochford, Essex; lives Leigh-on-Sea, Essex.
Max Whitlock, born 13.01.93, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire; lives Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire.
Steven Jehu, born 01.04.87, Truro, Cornwall; lives Exeter, Devon.

Rhythmic Gymnasts Selected for Commonwealth Games

Francesca Fox, born 13.06.92, Trowbridge, Wiltshire; lives Trowbridge, Wiltshire.
Lynne Hutchison, born 10.11.94, Tokyo, Japan; lives Bath, Somerset.
Rachel Ennis, born 21.06.87, Hillingdon, Middlesex; lives Pinner,
Middlesex.


For further information about  Commonwealth Games England please contact the Commonwealth Games England press  office at Matchtight Ltd on (01225) 443 998 or 07831 755351 or see the CGE’s  website at www.weareengland.org

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