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MELBOURNE : After mounting Commonwealth Games podiums for Australia, gymnast Georgia-Rose Brown will achieve a long-awaited Olympic dream in a New Zealand leotard in Paris having thrilled her Kiwi mum with a successful late-career switch.
Born in Australia’s eastern Queensland state and based in Melbourne, Brown will compete for New Zealand in the all-around competition at the age of 29 after topping the rankings on the uneven bars at recent World Cup qualifying events.
Brown, who won three Commonwealth Games medals from 2014-18, decided to switch allegiance last year and, with the blessing of Gymnastics Australia, it was approved by the International Olympic Committee in January.
The move triggered a new lease of life for a gymnast who had long craved an Olympic tracksuit but never managed to qualify.
“The New Zealand team has just been so welcoming. I’ve had the most incredible experience for the first four months of this year,” she told reporters on Thursday after being confirmed on the Olympic team.
“It’s been a whirlwind, but it’s been insane and it’s actually – probably to this date – the highlight of my career.”
Australia and New Zealand athletes once represented the same Australasia team at the Olympics until competing under their own flags from the 1920 Games in Antwerp.
The trans-Tasman nations have long enjoyed their rivalry in international sport, particularly in rugby and cricket, while occasionally lamenting the athletes who cross “the ditch” to represent the other side.
Brown’s switch, however, had generated only positive vibes on both sides and a bit of good-natured banter from friends and colleagues.
“They say, ‘Where’s your accent? We’d really like to hear it,” Brown said with a laugh.
“I really wanted to tap into that other half of me and I think everyone was really supportive of that.”
Brown’s mother, who hails from Palmerston North, a sleepy city in New Zealand’s North Island, was over the moon.
“She was like, ‘This is awesome. This is actually awesome.'”
Retaining Australia-based coaches and bolstered by staff from New Zealand Gymnastics, Brown will have fans from both nations cheering her at the July 26-Aug. 11 Olympics.
At almost 30-years-old and 1.73m in height, she will stand out as one of the tallest and most seasoned competitors in women’s artistic gymnastics.
Elite women’s gymnastics is no longer dominated by teenagers but the median age at the Tokyo Games was just shy of 22.
Brown is used to towering over her rivals and needs the uneven bars raised for her in competition so her feet do not drag on the mat.
It once made her feel awkward early in her career but she said she had grown comfortable in her skin.
“I’ve been told that I have long, elegant lines, so I think I tried to use that to my advantage,” she added.
“Every athlete is different. So everyone has to hone in on their own strengths. Over time, I’ve just kind of come to accept that and own it.”
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