Daniel Purvis produced a brilliant all-around performance as the team seized their final chance and qualified a full men's artistic gymnastics team for the Olympics.

Purvis scored a total of 89.948 for the six pieces of apparatus - the highest of the day - as Britain secured a full berth of five gymnasts for the first time since 1992 in Barcelona.

The team of Purvis, Daniel Keatings, Louis Smith, Max Whitlock, Kristian Thomas and Ruslan Panteleymonov finished first with a total of 358.227 ahead of France on 350.659, Spain with 347.292 and Italy on 346.334, as Canada, Brazil, Puerto Rico and Belarus all missed out.


Purvis ended up first in the individual all-around standings with Keatings third.

The team showed a great improvement on their performance at the World Championships in Tokyo last October where a terrible performance on the horizontal bar and a low score on the rings derailed their qualification chances.

Their qualification has ensured a full British complement in artistic gymnastics in London after the women's team qualified by taking fifth place overall in Tokyo.

"We really had to pull together as a team after Tokyo, train hard during the festive period, missed out on a lot of treats but we've really come together as a family now and great to see everyone do so well," said Keatings.

The competitors did their thing on the new-look pink competition area in front of an enthusiastic home crowd at the London Prepares test event at a venue better known as the O2 - and more famous for its world-class pop concerts than the physical strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, and balance of top-class gymnasts - but renamed for the Games because of the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) strict sponsorship rules. 

Whatever the gymnasts knew it as, the location seemed to be a hit.

Francisco Carlos Barretto Junior of Brazil, Shek Wai Hung of Hong Kong and Czech Republic's Martin Konecny all admitted they had enjoyed the venue.

Barretto said: "It is very, very nice.

"Pretty good.

"When entering, my vision is very – 'Wow'."


Echoing Barretto's sentiments, Shek said: "I know this arena well. I've been here once before and it is good.

"The people in London are very hospitable."

Konecny - who had been nursing his suspect right knee - added: "The competition here has been good and there has been good support from the crowd.

"I am very happy to be here at the qualifiers."

But the night belonged to the host nation.

"I'm very pleased with the team's performance and relieved...the team realise they didn't fully do themselves justice in Tokyo, so this is redemption and put a few nightmares to bed," British coach Eddie van Hoof said.

The four nations who qualifed here tonight will be vying for Olympic gold on July 30 with China, Japan, United States, Russia, Ukraine, Germany, South Korea and Romania.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


Related stories
January 2012: Tickets still available for London 2012 gymnastics test event