Artistic | Women’s Team for 2022 Commonwealth Games
Scotland will have a women’s artistic team at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games which begin next month.
Cara Kennedy, Emily Bremner and Eilidh Gorrell have been selected by Team Scotland joining Shannon Archer who was announced earlier this month along with five men’s artistic and one rhythmic gymnast.
This will be Cara’s fourth Team Scotland selection having competed in 2014 and 2018 as well as the Youth Games in 2011. The City of Glasgow Gymnastics Club gymnast equals Emma White’s achievement of being selected in women’s artistic gymnastics for three senior Games although Emma was unfortunately injured just before competing in Delhi in 2010.
The three-times Scottish women’s champion will compete alongside her clubmate Eilidh and Emily from Dundee Gymnastics Club 2K. The first-time Games gymnasts are no strangers to international competition, both winning team silver in the Sandra Clarke Cup in 2018, where Emily also won silver in senior all-around and bronze on the vault. The following year, Eilidh was part of the national team in the junior competition at Combs-La-Ville in France. Most recently, Emily was crowned all-around champion at the Northern European Championships in Cardiff last November.
The three gymnasts were among the 14 athletes who reached all the criteria to be nominated for selection. Scottish Gymnastics could only nominate a maximum of 11 across the three disciplines and Team Scotland initially selected seven for Birmingham 2022. The Commonwealth Games federation has now allocated further team places for gymastics. Crystelle Lake (City of Glasgow) also reached nomination standards but without an assured place, opted to have ankle surgery this summer. She is determined to come back stronger and is already excited about the next cycle, and will be cheering on the team.
After the highs of reaching nomination standards and the lows of missing out on initial selection, Cara is now looking forward. She said:
It is really good to be selected for Team Scotland again. I can’t describe how I feel at the moment and I’m looking forward to telling everyone as there are a lot of people supporting me.
“The last four years has been really challenging for me with injury and Covid disrupting training and I didn’t know if I was going to make the selection standards and then I did. It was bittersweet knowing I’d reached all the standards but the likelihood of getting an assured place was not high. That’s been difficult to deal with to be honest, because you know you’re good enough to go, but that’s out with your control.
“My first Games in Glasgow sort of happened, as I was part of the programme and I was so young, and so 2018 was a big target after 2014. Then after 2018, I know I didn’t want to stop but wasn’t sure I wanted to push for another cycle. It was sheer determination that made me think, you have got more to give. There were some skills I still wanted to do I hadn’t done through injury or not being able to do, so I had more personal targets I wanted to achieve and if I could achieve them, then another Games was not out of the question.”
I think I’ve become a role model more as I’ve got older, showing young gymnasts you can keep going past the age of 16 and do not have to stop.
Emily has just finished her second year in marketing and business at Abertay University and has been able to maintain her focus on training over the past few weeks since finishing exams. She said:
“I am so happy. By this point I thought it was not going to happen more than it was. When Sam (Hendrikson) phoned me and asked if I was ready to go to Birmingham, I said yes! It was a nice surprise as I was becoming less hopeful as time went on.”
It has been a dream for so long to be part of Team Scotland. Sam was in the gym when I was 12 or 13 when Scottish Gymnastics launched its 12-year strategy. She asked me what I wanted to do and I said go to the Commonwealth Games. I am just so happy I can now fulfil that vision I’ve had from such a young age.
“I watched the 2014 Games in Glasgow with people from my club and that’s when I was first aware that I could do this. It was so exciting, and it was after that I decided this is what I want to do. I broke my elbow in 2015 which was devastating as it was just before my first British championships. I took a year out rehabbed well with access to physio through Scottish Gymnastics which really helped. My coaches then retired so I moved to Dundee in 2016 to train with Bea (Petersen).
“My family are super supportive and so happy. My mum, dad and little sister have been on the journey emotionally with me over the years and it’s paid off for them too. They got tickets through the ballot so they will be in Birmingham watching me live.”
Eilidh has just finished fifth year and is so excited to be part of the team. She said:
“I feel amazing, I’m so happy. At first I was in shock and almost didn’t believe it. It is starting to sink in now. My mum and dad are so happy for me and they can’t believe it either. The Commonwealth Games have been a big goal of mine since I started to get better in gymnastics when I was around 10 or 11.”
“My mum and dad have played a huge role in taking me from A to B for years. They’re both coming down to watch and are excited. My coaches Rod and Pauline have also supported me so much over the last few years and Jonny with strength and conditioning. Rod and Pauline were amazing especially through Covid and lockdown doing Zoom with us. When we got back into the gym, they have been supporting and helping me all the way. My school St John Ogilvy has also been a massive support in allowing me time to train and go to competitions and I’m really grateful.
“It has been difficult over the last few weeks. I’ve tried to stay positive and told myself that if I don’t keep training and building up routines, then I would not be ready should a place become available.”
I am so excited for the Games. I just want to enjoy and embrace the experience and use this as a good start to my career.
Team Scotland Chef de Mission Elinor Middlemiss said: “I am really pleased that Cara, Emily and Eilidh have secured their spots at this summer’s Commonwealth Games.
“It is always a welcome surprise when we are offered additional places to the Games by the Commonwealth Games Federation. Selection processes are tough on athletes, especially on those who narrowly miss out. Being able to expand our team and make further selections is always a nice feeling and I am delighted for all the athletes involved. I am looking forward to watching them compete this summer.”
Scottish Gymnastics head of performance Sam Hendrikson added: “Our congratulations to Cara, Emily and Eilidh on their Team Scotland selection. Their hard work has paid off and we are so pleased for them, their families and their coaches.
“The disappointment of not having an assured place after achieving all the nomination criteria has been really tough. All three have shown tremendous resilience by continuing to train to be ready should additional places in the team became available. And they’ve stayed really positive and cheery! It was such a pleasure to be able to call them to share the good news as our performance team understands how challenging the selection process is for athletes.
“Cara is still performing at the highest standard to compete at her third senior Games and we hope she achieves her personal goals which have kept her so driven. Emily and Eilidh deserve this opportunity to compete in their first multi-sport Games which is an unforgettable experience and we hope this is just the first. We wish them all the very best in the coming weeks in their final preparations and for competition. Enjoy your moment!”
Women’s artistic
Shannon Archer: South Essex Gymnastics Club – coach Ross Falsetta
Cara Kennedy: City of Glasgow Gymnastics Club – Rod Smith and Pauline Smith
Emily Bremner: Dundee Gymnastics 2K – coach Bea Petersen
Eilidh Gorrell: City of Glasgow Gymnastics Club – coaches Rod and Pauline Smith
Men’s artistic
Frank Baines: Notts Gymnastics Academy – coach Sergey Sizhanov
Hamish Carter: Fighting Illini, University of Illinois – coach Daniel Ribeiro
Pavel Karnejenko: City of Glasgow Gymnastics Club – coach Marius Gherman
Cameron Lynn: West Lothian Artistic Gymnastics Club – coach John Campbell
David Weir: City of Glasgow Gymnastics Club – coach Marius Gherman
Rhythmic
Louise Christie: Beacon Rhythmic Gymnastics Club – coach Amy Stewart
> Read more about the other gymnasts competing in Birmingham 2022
Scottish Gymnastics will share news of our team at Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games across our social media and website. The artistic gymnastics competition runs from 29 July to 2 August, with the rhythmic gymnastics following from 4 to 6 August in Arena Birmingham.
> Check out the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games day-by-day schedule
> Find out more about Team Scotland
The women’s artistic team training at sportscotland Inverclyde national sports training centre in June