OLYMPICS LONDON 2012: Cassar hoping for rhythmic gymnastics legacy

By Sean-Paul Doran, Sportsbeat, London 2012

GEORGINA Cassar is hoping to fulfil the London 2012 aim of inspiring a generation and believes the exposure of Great Britain’s rhythmic gymnastics team is already starting to do so.

EAGER TO INSPIRE: Great Britain's rhythmic gymnastics team hope to gain a new following for the sport through their London 2012 campaign

Team GB finished 12th in the group all-around competition after scoring 48.000 across the two days, and missed out on the top-ten finish that would have seen them qualify for the final.

And Cassar, who also became Gibraltar’s first Olympian, says that success for her team will be measured by the legacy it brings to the sport in Britain.

“We hope we’ve inspired a generation of future gymnasts to take up what we’ve started,” said the 18-year-old, who represented Gibraltar at the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

“We’ve already had people phone our coach saying their daughters do artistic gymnastics but now they want to do rhythmic.

“When I was waiting behind the arena I was shaking like a leaf as it’s a home crowd and we needed to do well.

“When we came out I could hear people I knew in the crowd, such as people from our gym club and my family members.

“As soon as we got on the floor I was calm, happy and couldn’t stop smiling even though it was meant to be a fierce routine. It would be great to have a home crowd every time we competed.”

Team GB, made up of Cassar, Rachel Smith, Louisa Pouli, Francesca Fox, Jade Faulkner and Lynne Hutchison produced a clean routine with their three ribbons and two hoops to score 23.850 on the final day.

And Hutchison expressed her delight at their performance as she echoed her teammate’s comments about inspiring a new breed of youngsters.

“To strike that final pose and hear the crowd’s reception was unbelievable and shows that all the months of hard work were worth it,” said the 17-year-old, who was born in Japan.

“We have proved we can compete on the same stage as these amazing groups and I really hope people have been inspired by what we’ve achieved.”

© Sportsbeat 2012