Female gymnastics earns bronze in team event

British Columbia earned its first team medal on Sunday when the women’s gymnastics contingent took the bronze medal.

The venue at UNBC was buzzing with Team BC supporters who brought a tremendous amount of energy to the young athletes.

The team gymnastics event includes four events or rotations: floor exercise, uneven bars, beam, and vault.  Teams are made up of six athletes, each of whom compete in all four events and are scored.  The results are then combined, producing the event winners.

Team BC was led by captain Clair Kaji, 16 (Vancouver) and includes Seina Cho, 14 (Coquitlam), Haley de Jong, 14 (Port Coquitlam), Ilka Juk, 11 (Vancouver), Shallon Olsen, 14 (Surrey), and Itzia San Roman, 17 (Burnaby).

The team ended up second in vault, third in floor exercise and uneven bars, and fourth in beam, which was good enough for the bronze medal.  Quebec won gold, followed by Ontario.

B.C.’s Shallon Olsen earned the highest overall score for Team BC and was second highest overall in the competition.  She was first in the vault and third in the floor exercise, which helped boost Team BC’s overall score.

Olsen, Kaji, and San Roman have qualified for the women’s all around event, which takes place on Tuesday.

The men’s team event gets underway tonight at 5:30 p.m. 

See Canada Games live streaming at www.canadagamestv.ca and follow live updates on Twitter from @GoTeamBC with the hashtag #TBCGymnastics.