Following a four-day training camp in Quebec, the Canadians have selected seven women to travel to the London Test Event, where they will compete for Olympic team qualification at the final major international event before the Summer Games. The top four (of eight teams competing) will advance to London, as will the top 24 in the individual all-around.
The lucky seven are Brittany Rogers, Talia Chiarelli, Victoria Moors, Madeline Gardiner, Mikaela Gerber, Christine (Peng Peng) Lee and Kristina Vaculik. They have two things going for them: 1. All are very well choreographed and 2. They have four gymnasts (Chiarelli, Moors, Lee and Rogers) who are capable of vaulting a double-twisting Yurchenko.
That gives them a distinct advantage -- or some breathing room, if you want to think about it that way. With the possible exception of South Korea, it is unlikely that any other team will be able to put together even three DTYs.
While these seven are obviously frontrunners for the Olympic team should Canada qualify a team to the Games, the country has depth. Dominique Pegg, Bianca Dancose-Giambattisto, Sabrina Gill and Jessica Savona (currently rehabbing a torn ACL) are also legitimate Olympic prospects.
The Canadian women had a heartbreaking 2007 Worlds and did not qualify a full team to the 2008 Olympics. They were represented by Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs (now at UCLA) and Nansy Damianova (now at Utah) in Beijing.
Note: This business of naming training squads and deciding who competes at the last minute is an idea whose year has arrived. Who wants to bet that a seven-member training squad and not a five-member team is what gets named at the U.S. Olympic Trials?
Related: London Test Event: The complete nominative rosters
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