International Gymnast Magazine: Mexico's Elsa Garcia Deserves Final Olympic Slot

Stretching Out: Olympic Wild Card?
My vote goes to Elsa Garcia of Mexico

One spot remains open for the 2008 Olympics for both men and women. The other 97 berths for each gender were determined by the results of the 2007 World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany. Here's how they were allotted.

1-72: top 12 teams (six gymnasts per team)
73-78: two gymnasts each from teams ranked 13th, 14th and 15th
79-81: one gymnast each from teams ranked 16th, 17th and 18th
82-90: 1 gymnast (per federations other than those mentioned above) based on all-around ranking from Competition I (preliminaries)
91-94: apparatus gold medalists; supplemented by Competition I ranking if gold medalists were already qualified by previous criteria
95-97: three gymnasts designated by FIG Executive Committee with consideration to continental representation
98: Wild card, allocated by the Tripartite Commission (FIG, IOC and Association of National Olympic Committees)

In an effort to expand global participation at the Olympics, the selection system fails to ensure the highest level of competition possible at the games. In gymnastics, for sure, it is often harder to win a medal at a world championships than at the Olympics. The last three female gymnasts to "earn" a berth to Beijing scored between 51.350-51.875 in Stuttgart. Their prelim rankings were 83rd, 84th and 91st.

Elsa Garcia of Mexico scored 52.775, basically without the use of one leg. But her teammate Marisela Cantu tallied 53.350 and received an Olympic invite in the 82-90 group. With Mexico already represented, Garcia is caught in a difficult position.

I can only hope the Tripartite Commission understands and recognizes Garcia's true value when it selects the final woman to go to Beijing in August. That wasn't the real Garcia in Stuttgart, the one who scored a bronze-medal winning 60.200 at the 2007 American Cup. In her wake were Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs (Canada), Zhou Zhuoru (China), Daria Joura (Australia), Kristina Pravdina (Russia) and Daria Zgoba (Ukraine). That's a pretty talented field.

In the following months Garcia won seven medals at World Cup events in Paris (silver on floor, bronze on vault); Cottbus (golds on bars and floor, bronze on vault); and Ghent (silvers on vault and floor). Garcia won these medals against numerous world-class gymnasts, virtually all of whom will compete with their full teams in Beijing.

Just four days before the start of the World Championships in Stuttgart, however, Garcia sustained a serious leg injury that would require an extended break — but not until after she limped through four routines in Stuttgart.

"It hurt every time I put pressure on it," she recently told IG. "Walk, run, jump, land. After worlds I stopped my gymnastics training for almost three months."

At the 2006 Worlds in Aarhus, Denmark, Garcia's 33rd place in prelims would have made her the top individual qualifier with room to spare. But in Stuttgart, Garcia gamely competed with a torn psoas muscle, which extends from the lower back to the pelvis. After rehabilitation, which included swimming, cycling and cardiovascular exercise, Garcia is healthy again. She's also receiving national support for the wild card berth to Beijing.

"The National Commission of Sport and the Mexican Olympic Committee are supporting my case," says the 18-year-old from Monterrey, who is coached by Antonio Barraza and Teresa Lopez. "Mexico had never supported an athlete that was not automatically ranked to go, so this is the exception."

Garcia is a worthy exception to any rule that suggests Mexico shouldn't have two gymnasts in Beijing. She deserves to compete in the Olympics because she's a medal contender in more than one event. Her presence would make a positive difference in the competition.

For now, though, it's a waiting game. "The announcement will be done by the IOC," one FIG official told me recently. "Like you, we're waiting for the decision."

Says Garcia: "I am supposed to get an answer between March and May. I really hope they grant me a place in the Olympics."

So do I. Elsa Garcia deserves the chance to make the 2008 Olympics, because she'll make them even better.

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