England keeps calling back Coquitlam's Brittany Rogers. She's more than happy to make the return trip.
The 18-year-old helped the Canadian women's gymnastics team clinch a berth at the 2012 Olympics in London with an impressive performance at the last-chance qualification meet Wednesday, placing second in a field of eight teams battling for the final four spots at the Games.
"I think only the athletes truly understand how much work has gone into this performance," said Rogers, who battled back from a career-threatening ankle injury to win a spot on the senior national team. "We missed Christmas and New Year's this year to get ready, which was really hard, and it absolutely paid off here. I'm really proud of our team."
The Canadians came out sizzling in the vault event and never looked back on way to placing second with a total score of 221.913 points, just behind top -ranked Italy at 224.621.
The other two squads to qualify were France in third with 220.744 points and Brazil in fourth at 217.985, after the U.S., Russia, China, Romania, Japan, Australia, Germany and England had already earned spots in the 12-team Olympic field. The top eight nations at the recent world championships in Tokyo qualified directly for the 2012 Games while teams ranked ninth to 16th, including Canada in 11th, advanced to this meet.
Ironically, London was also where Rogers encountered her biggest success thus far in her career, placing 19th overall, including seventh in vault, at the World Championships there in 2009.
On vault, three of the five Canadian competitors landed highly difficult double-twisting Yurchenkos, with former Ottawa resident Talia Chiarelli, who now lives in Boston, leading the way with a score of 14.500. Victoria Moors of Cambridge, Ont., was right behind at 14.400 and Rogers scored 14.200 to cap an eye-popping overall performance by the Canadian crew.
Peng Peng Lee of Toronto was the top Canadian all around and tied Kristina Vaculik of Whitby, Ont., for the team's best score on uneven bars (14.33).
Qualifying for the Olympics was a huge step for Rogers, who suffered a severe setback when she fractured her ankle at the Pacific Rim championships in Melbourne, Australia in May, 2010. A member of Omega Gymnastics Club, Rogers graduated last spring from Terry Fox Secondary School.
