Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games Team Scotland Gymnasts Announced
Seven gymnasts have been named by Team Scotland for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.
Since publication, additional gymnasts have been named for the team of gymnasts representing Scotland at the Games. You can read more below. The original news story was posted on 6 June 2022.
> Women's artistic gymnastics team named for Team Scotland
The gymnasts have been selected across the three Commonwealth disciplines of men’s artistic, women’s artistic and rhythmic for the Games which run from 28 July to 8 August.
Over the selection period 95 standards were met across the three disciplines, with 14 gymnasts meeting the criteria to be nominated by Scottish Gymnastics. As part of Scottish Gymnastics’ commitment to take as many gymnasts as possible, a total of 11 gymnasts were nominated, the maximum number allowed from the three disciplines. Team Scotland have selected seven of the nominated gymnasts for Birmingham 2022.
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
Women’s artistic
Shannon Archer: South Essex Gymnastics Club – coach Ross Falsetta
Rhythmic
Louise Christie: Beacon Rhythmic Gymnastics Club – coach Amy Stewart
They are joined at the Games by selected Team Scotland coaches Marius Gherman and John Campbell in men’s artistic, Becki Campbell and Ross Falsetta in women’s artistic and Amy Stewart in rhythmic. Jamie Bowie has already been selected as gymnastics sport team manager by Commonwealth Games Scotland.
Congratulations to everyone who has been selected for Team Scotland.
This is Frank’s third Commonwealth Games, having won a team silver in Glasgow and narrowly missing out on three individual medals. He added a team bronze and individual bronze on parallel bars and was fourth in the all-around and horizontal bars in Gold Coast. Hamish was in two apparatus finals in his first Games, won team bronze and is currently in his senior year of psychology at the University of Illinois where he is on a gymnastics scholarship.
David who also won team bronze four years ago, is studying chemistry with education at University of West of Scotland while coaching at Dundonald and Largs gymnastics clubs. British senior squad members Pavel, the current Scottish champion who is a full-time athlete and Cameron who combines gymnastics with coaching part-time, make their Games debuts.
Frank took a break from gymnastics after Gold Coast and only came back to the sport after Covid lockdowns. He moved to Notts Gymnastics Academy last September when he began studying physiotherapy at the University of Nottingham after years at Southport Gymnastics Club. The prospect of another Games lured him back, as he explains:
I enjoyed 2018 so much with the guys – Hamish, Kelvin, David and Dan [Purvis] who is now retired – and I wanted one more crack at it. I’m still young enough and I’m really looking forward to it. The team we have is really strong and it’s a great environment so I’m looking forward to getting to Birmingham and competing again.
“All the Games have been such a welcoming environment as part of Team Scotland. There’s a really supportive aspect from all the different sports. You go, do your competition, come back into the village, everyone’s there and knows how you got on. It’s a nice family environment and I’m looking forward to getting out there again.”
Shannon returns for her second senior Games in women’s artistic having also competed in the Youth Games. She stepped back from training after Gold Coast before moving to South Essex Gymnastics Club almost two years ago, a challenge in itself relocating during the height of Covid-19. She made the vault final in Australia, and this year has become Scottish senior women’s champion, qualified for three apparatus finals at the British championships and has been selected for the GB senior squad. She told us:
"After Gold Coast I wasn’t sure if I was going to keep training or not. I was borderline maybe going to stop. I came back, Covid hit and made everything a little bit harder so I’m very happy and very proud to be in the team again. I’ve noticed a massive improvement in my gymnastics, my confidence and people have noticed at competitions this year I’m calmer."
Any athlete would tell you Gold Coast was probably one of their best experiences as an athlete and I was close to a medal. I thought, I’m not finished with this yet, I want to give this another go and see what we can do. It’s a proud moment to put on that leotard with the Scotland flag again. It doesn’t happen often, to be able to represent Scotland at major championships. I was born here, grew up here and am a very proud Scot.
Louise from Beacon Rhythmic Gymnastics club is a fourth-year sport scholar in Applied Sport & Exercise Science in Aberdeen. She is grateful for the support from Robert Gordon University which allows her time to compete in national and international events, including the British Championships where she won three medals and the European Championships later this month. Louise is “over the moon” about selection for her first Games. She said:
For as long as I can remember, my biggest goal in gymnastics has been representing Scotland at the Commonwealth Games. I watched the 2014 Games in Glasgow and that inspired me to keep pushing, it gave me the drive and showed me that’s what I really wanted to achieve in the sport.
"I’ve worked so hard to be where I am now and it’s not been an easy journey. My family are so supportive, and I would not have made it to this point if they were not behind me. Just knowing if I made it there, they’d all be there, and seeing all the sacrifice and hard work pay off would mean the world to me."
Scottish Gymnastics through Team Scotland has made a request for additional athlete places to the Commonwealth Games Federation. This could allow Scotland to field a full women’s artistic team, with the nominated gymnasts Cara Kennedy, Crystelle Lake, Emily Bremner, and Eilidh Gorrell as part of that team. News of additional places is expected at the beginning of July.
Scottish Gymnastics head of performance Sam Hendrikson said:
“We are extremely proud of every gymnast who went through the selection process, training through Covid in a different way to normal championships. Gymnastics was one of the last sports to return to indoor training and normal level of competition and the coaches did an amazing job to prepare gymnasts in the way we have never had to before to get the team ready for what was a very tight team selection window.
“This is the first time since Glasgow we have gymnasts in all three Commonwealth disciplines. To have more gymnasts meeting standards and being nominated to Team Scotland than places available, shows how well Scotland is developing in performance sport. It is disappointing not to have a women’s artistic team confirmed for Birmingham, but Team Scotland has a finite number of allocated quota places. The level of gymnastics in Scotland is high which It is a huge credit to the gymnasts, personal coaches, support team and their families for supporting them over the past few years.
"It is nice to see faces from 2014 and 2018 still performing at the highest standard and also the bright future ahead for all three disciplines with some exceptional young people coming through. We wish them the very best in the coming weeks in their final preparations and for competition. Enjoy the experience – shine brightly!"
Team Scotland Chef de Mission Elinor Middlemiss, added: “We’ve got a real mix of experience within the team, from athletes who have competed on the Commonwealth stage before through to those heading for their first Games experience. The gymnastics competitions are always one of the highlights of the Games and I am looking forward to seeing this squad compete in the Arena Birmingham this summer.”
Athletes who achieved nomination criteria
Cara Kennedy: City of Glasgow Gymnastics Club – coaches Rod and Pauline Smith
Crystelle Lake: City of Glasgow Gymnastics Club – coaches Rod and Pauline Smith
Emily Bremner: Dundee Gymnastics 2K – coach Bea Petersen
Eilidh Gorrell: City of Glasgow Gymnastics Club – coaches Rod and Pauline Smith
Kelvin Cham: City of Glasgow Gymnastics Club – coach Marius Gherman
Euan McLellan: West Lothian Artistic Gymnastics Club – coach John Campbell
Fraser Lynes: City of Glasgow Gymnastics Club – coach Marius Gherman
Since these athletes were announced, gymnastics was allocated three additional women's artistic places by the Commonwealth Games Foundation on 1 July 2022.
> Women's team for Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games team
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