Isabella Brett

This weekend, the Oceania Championships were held in Auckland, where Isabella Brett of New Zealand and Jesse Moore of Australia earned the available Olympic berths – though whether Brett will actually be allowed to take the spot is still up in the air.

With only two nations competing here and with the Australian women having already qualified a full team via world championships last year, it meant New Zealand was essentially guaranteed the WAG spot. With Brett and Reece Cobb attending as the two Olympic-eligible athletes for the program, Brett ended up winning the spot by finishing with a 47.932 to Cobb’s 46.365, also earning the bronze medal, but the New Zealand Olympic Committee requires that athletes are ranked in the top 16 globally for their sport, and it’s unclear whether they will support the nomination of Brett for the Olympic Games despite her rightfully earning the spot.

Earlier this season, former Australian elite Georgia-Rose Brown, who began representing New Zealand internationally in February, qualified for an Olympic spot via the world cups. Though she may not actually be one of the top 16 uneven bar workers in the world, her first-place finish in the global world cup rankings for the 2024 season on this apparatus was enough to convince the NZOC that she fits the criteria. But Brett hasn’t competed in a global all-around contest since world championships in 2018, where she finished 120th, and her top apparatus ranking through this year’s world cup series was 17th on beam, so it may be more difficult to find the justification to send her based on the NZOC’s rules.

Australia sent four athletes here, with Emma Nedov – who returned to the sport following a four-year break at nationals earlier this month – winning all-around gold with a 51.231, while Kate Sayer was the silver medalist with a 48.765, Annabelle Burrows finished fifth with a 46.232, and Breanna Scott competed on vault and bars, posting the third-best scores of the meet on both events. Both Nedov and Scott are currently considered favorites for making Australia’s Olympic team, which should be announced in the coming weeks.

For the host country, addition to Brett and Cobb, we also saw Brown compete two events in Auckland, putting up the second-best score on vault and the top score on bars with a 13.9, showing her readiness for Paris this summer.

Update as of 6/24: Brett shared on Instagram that Gymnastics New Zealand did not put forth her nomination to the New Zealand Olympic Committee, and with no other eligible athletes representing the continent, the FIG will not be able to reallocate her place.

Jesse Moore with his Olympic ticket

With no MAG athletes from Australia or New Zealand previously qualifying to the Olympics, this competition was wide open for any of the seven men who competed from both countries. Moore took a decisive early lead, however, and despite falling twice on high bar in his last event of the meet, he still managed to win the all-around and the Olympic berth with an 80.332, about six tenths ahead of the rest of his competition.

Coming closest were his teammates Clay Mason Stephens, who was second with a 79.698, and Heath Thorpe, third with a 79.564. Further back were Ethan Dick and Samuel Dick of New Zealand in fourth and fifth place, while Australia’s James Hardy was sixth, and Daniel Stoddart of New Zealand ended up not competing on pommel horse, putting up only five events to take him out of the running.

Links: WAG Results, MAG Results, WAG Olympic Qualifiers, MAG Olympic Qualifiers

Article by Lauren Hopkins