Brittany Rogers is going back to the Olympic Games.
The Coquitlam gymnastics athlete was chosen for the squad following selection camp this week and based on strong results at the Canadian Championships and Elite Canada events. She was vying for one of eight spots and had an outstanding performance on the uneven bars with a score of 14.8 to finish first all around and solidify her spot in the top three at the selection event.
“I had so many emotions bottled up and after I finished that bars routine, it just all came out,” she said. “I knew as soon as I landed that bar routine that I had a really good shot at making my second Olympics and that’s a dream come true.”
Now, Rogers will join eight other athletes as they head to Rio for the 2016 Summer Games. She brings experience to the squad, following her fifth place showing in the women’s artistic team event in the London Olympics in 2012.
These days, Rogers has been competing with the University of Georgia Bulldogs in the NCAA, where she won a championship on the bars earlier this year. The experience, she said, will help her as she gears up for Rio this summer.
“I feel like there’s still more in me,” she told the Tri-City News last year. “A lot of gymnasts kind of use their collegiate years to kind of retire and kind of mend off of gymnastics. I didn’t feel like that was the case for me. I felt like I got stronger.”
When Rogers meets up with the team in Sarnia, Ont., prior to departing for Brazil, she will be joined by Shallon Olsen, another Tri-City competitor.
The Olympics will be a first for Olsen, who trains with Coquitlam’s Omega Gymnastic, and recently won fourth all around at the senior women’s vault nationals before spending the week at Team Canada final selection camp.
In March, Olsen took home gold at the International Gymnix Competition in Montreal, while taking bronze on the floor.
The artistic gymnastics event will take place between Aug. 6 and 16 at the Rio Olympic Arena, starting with a preliminary qualifying round. Based on those results, team competitions will get underway.
On Aug. 12, the trampoline events will begin with qualifiers and finals for both the men’s and women’s event.
“We had some phenomenal results at the London 2012 Olympics Games and with this group of athletes, who have worked so hard with their coaches and support staff to make this team, I’m confident that once again we will see performances that all Canadians can be proud of,” said Peter Nicol, the president and CEO of Gymnastics Canada.
