Rio Olympics 2016: Cate and Bronte Campbell make team, wrestlers selected and shooting young guns
WE have cousins, we have couples, we have husbands and wives and now we have more sisters heading to the Olympics. All this and more in RACING TO RIO.
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- Aggression key to Gilmore’s success
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- Jess Fox: 2016 a year to be heard
WE have cousins, we have couples, we have husbands and wives and now we have another pair of sisters heading to the Rio Olympics.
Sisters Cate and Bronte Campbell are the latest siblings stamping their ticket to the games after great performances at the Olympic swimming selection trials.
While there was disappointment for some in the pool — including James Magnussen — there were fantastic feats by others, including Cameron McEvoy and teen sensations Kyle Chambers.
After a great weekend of action we had two triathletes also make their way onto the team.
And the Australian Olympic Committee also confirmed a team of wrestlers.
All this and more in this weeks’s Racing to Rio wrap.
SISTER ACT
Australia’s second set of sisters and forth set of siblings have made the Olympic team thanks to the antics of swimming siblings Cate and Bronte Campbell.
The pair finished one-two in the women’s 100m freestyle at the Olympic trials despite a hindered lead-up to the trials.
It will be Cate’s third Olympics and Bronte’s second.
Older sister Cate, 23, won in 52.38, just .20 of a second ahead of world champion Bronte, 23.
“I remember watching Grant Hackett win the 1500m at the Sydney Olympics and saying, ‘I’m going to do that’,” Bronte said. “I said to Cate, ‘let’s swim together at the Olympics’ and she was like, ‘OK, let’s do it’.”
FAMILY MATTERS
Sisters Carmen and Caroline Marton are the other set of sisters named for Rio.
Carmen’s partner Safwan Khalil and close friend Hayder Shkara have also been named on the taekwondo team.
Brother and sisters Chloe and Max Esposito (modern pentathlon) and Jared and Rachel Tallent (athletics) have also bee named.
Cousins Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin have been selected in sailing for their fist Games..
GYMNASTS HEADING TO NEW HEIGHTS,
It was a great final day of competition for Australia’s gymnasts at the Pacific Rim Championships with a six-medal haul.
In a major hit out against top Olympic countries including the US, the vent was a perfect lead in to next week’s Rio Test Event — the final qualifying competition for the 2016 Olympic Games.
Medals at the even included a bronze to the bronze medal-winning women’s Artistic Gymnastics team event, Larrissa Miller’s silver in the uneven bars and Rio hopeful, Danielle Prince’s bronze medals in the ball, clubs and ribbon finals.
Juniors, Alexandra Eedle and Lidiia Ilakovleva, completed a consistent performance on their first Australian team, winning silver with hoop and bronze with clubs respectively.
WRESTLING WITH SELECTION
A quartet of Freestyle and Graeco-Roman wrestlers have been named to the Australian team this week — a major increase for the sport after being represented by just one at the London Olympics.
Ivan Popov and Vinod Kumar will represent the 130kg and 66kg Graeco-Roman division respectively while Sahit Prezreni and Talgat Ilyasov have earnt their selection in the 65kg and 74kg freestyle events.
Every athletes named will be making their debut at the Games for Australia although Sahit Prizreni’s is heading to his third Games after representing Albania twice.
It has been 68 years (London 1948) since Australia’s last wrestling medal when Jim Armstrong and Dick Garrard took home bronze and silver respectively.
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SHOOTING FOR SUCCESS
Teenage skeet shooter Aislin Jones will make history in Rio as Australia’s youngest ever shooter.
The 16-year-old was one of 16 shooters named for the Games.
She will be joined by other young guns, Jack Rossiter, 18, and James Willett, 20.
At the opposite spectrum will be current world champion Warren Potent, who is 54 and the eldest Australian athlete selected for Rio 2016 to date.
He will be representing at his fifth Olympics.
A DEBUTANT AND A VETERAN
Australia now has three of his six triathletes selected for the Rio Olympics with Emma Moffatt heading to her third games and Ryan Bailie to his first.
The later, 25, has only been in the sport for six years after his sporting childhood was spent playing AFL.
But with a body better suited to triathlons, Bailie was the first Aussie home in the Gold Coast world championship series race on the weekend to secure his spot.
Aaron Royle was the first triathlete to gain selection last year.
SO LONG SAM
Olympic rower and World Champion Sam Beltz announced his retirement from rowing this week.
Beltz represented Australia at the Beijing 2008 and London 2012 Olympic Games along with multiple world championships[ps.
In 2011, with Anthony Edwards, Ben Cureton and Todd Skipworth, Beltz won gold at the World Rowing Championships in the Lightweight Men’s Coxless Four.
“I have been part of the Australian Rowing Team since 1999 and the sport will always be one that I have a great connection but after some time away from it post the 2014 World Rowing Championships I have now made the decision to formally retire,’’ he said.
MORE FROM THE OLYMPIC ARENA
CAMERON McEvoy’s near flawless national championships has rocketed him into favouritism to complete the 200m, 100m and 50m freestyle treble at the Rio Olympic trials in Adelaide.
McEvoy defied a heavy racing program, which on Tuesday included a surprise appearance in the 100m butterfly, to post the fastest time in the semi-finals of the 50m freestyle. READ MORE.
AUSTRALIA’S riders have starred on the world stage this week.
Our swimmers have been doing the hard yards at selection trials.
There’s been success on the sand for beach volleyballers. All this and more in Short and Sweet. READ MORE
A year ago sporting couple Emma Moffatt and Daniel Bowker reaveled they had a dream of walking out in Australian kit together at the Rio Olympic opening ceremony. In August they will. READ MORE
AUSTRALIA’S women’s team has won the Atlanta Sevens, defeating New Zealand 24-19 in Sunday’s final. The victory was Australia’s third consecutive tournament win and confirmed their status as gold medal favourites for the Rio Olympics. READ MORE
JESSE Parahi was a few months into his new career as a Wests Tiger when he was asked to present his former Australian rugby teammates with their Sydney Sevens jerseys.
He choked up mid-speech and not for the first time Parahi felt a powerful urge to pull a jersey on and run out too. READ MORE
MORE rest will help former world champion Cate Campbell overcome a wrist complaint that has flared at the Rio Olympic swimming trials in Adelaide.
Unfortunately, that is also what caused it.
Sport has no shortage of freak injuries. READ MORE
SLOW rounds are common in world golf but players competing at the Olympics in August may need to be snappier than usual as they will have alligators, capybaras and other wildlife for company. READ MORE
Originally published as Rio Olympics 2016: Cate and Bronte Campbell make team, wrestlers selected and shooting young guns
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