Emily Little (born 29 March 1994) is an Australian artistic gymnast. She won a gold medal at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in the team women's artistic gymnastic events. She was chosen to represent Australia at the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Emily Little
Emily Little,21 June 2012 at the Australian Institute of Sport Gymnastic Centre for the press event announcing the artistic gymnastics team for the London 2012 Summer Olympics.
Personal information
Country represented Australia
Born (1994-03-29) 29 March 1994 (age 30)
Perth, Western Australia
HometownPerth, Western Australia
Height5 ft 0 in (152 cm)
DisciplineWomen's artistic gymnastics
LevelSenior
Years on national team2009
ClubWestern Australian Institute of Sport, Perth
Australian Institute of Sport, Canberra
GymWestern Australian Institute of Sport, Perth
Australian Institute of Sport, Canberra
World ranking13 (2014 - 2015)
Medal record
Representing  Australia
Commonwealth Games
Gold medal – first place 2010 Delhi Team
Silver medal – second place 2010 Delhi All-Around
Pacific Rim Championships
Silver medal – second place 2010 Melbourne Vault
Bronze medal – third place 2010 Melbourne Team
Bronze medal – third place 2016 Everett Team
World Cup
Gold medal – first place 2016 Cottbus Vault
Gold medal – first place 2017 Melbourne Floor Exercise
Silver medal – second place 2017 Melbourne Floor Exercise
Silver medal – second place 2017 Baku Floor exercise
Silver medal – second place 2017 Baku Vault
Silver medal – second place 2017 Doha Vault
Silver medal – second place 2017 Doha Floor Exercise
Bronze medal – third place 2016 Cottbus Floor Exercise
Bronze medal – third place 2017 Melbourne Balance Beam
Bronze medal – third place 2017 Baku Balance beam

Personal

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Little, nicknamed Em, was born on 29 March 1994 in Perth, Western Australia,[1] and continues to reside there.[1][2] She attended City Beach Primary School and then went to high school at Churchlands Senior High School.[1] She is 152 centimetres (60 in) tall, and weighs 52 kilograms (115 lb).[1]

Artistic gymnastics

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Little (far-left) with Kate Lundy and Australian Olympic teammates

Little is an Australian artistic gymnast, who has had a scholarship with the Western Australian Institute of Sport[1][2] and the Australian Institute of Sport. Based out of Perth, she has been coached by Martine George and Nikolai Lapchine since 2003.[1]

Little has been a member of the Australian senior national team for four years.[1] As a member of the 2012 Australian senior squad going to the Olympics, she was coached by Peggy Liddick.[3][4] She is often the lead-off gymnast. She won a gold medal at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in the team event, and a silver medal in the individual all around competition. At the 2010 and 2011 Artistic World Championships, she was a member of the Australian team that finished sixth place each time.[1]

At the 2012 Australian Gymnastics Championships in Sydney, Little finished second in the all around event. She earned a pair of silver medals in the floor and vault events.[1][5][6] At the event, she introduced several new elements into her routines.[2] The event was part of the Australian national team Olympic qualifying process.[5] In mid-June 2012, Little was one of twelve Australian gymnasts vying to earn a final spot on the Olympic squad at a training session for the national team at the Australian Institute of Sport.[7][8] In mid-June 2012, she was one of three Australian female gymnasts who were confirmed to be going to the Games alongside Lauren Mitchell and Ashleigh Brennan.[9]

Little represented Australia at the 2012 Summer Olympics in women's artistic gymnastics[4][10][11] as an eighteen-year-old.[4][12] She was selected to compete in the women's team event.[12] Her Olympic training preparations included learning how to deal with flash photography, with strobe lighting used during practice, and being exposed to distracting noises.[4][13]

In March 2015, Emily Little was invited to compete at the AT&T American Cup alongside many all around world champions like Simone Biles and Vanessa Ferrari. This being Little's second international competition since 2012 was very successful as she placed seventh in front of Commonwealth Games all around champion, Claudia Fragapane.

In May 2015, Little competed in the Australian Gymnastics Championships, she was in second place during the day 1 competition and held on to finish second in All Around finals behind Queensland's Georgia Godwin. She represented Western Australia, although there were not enough gymnasts to make a full team. She qualified for vault finals and won with a 15.3 scoring Yurchenko double twisting layout. She also qualified for bar finals placing sixth. In beam finals, Little placed third in front of world beam silver medalist, Lauren Mitchell. Little competed a full twisting double layout in floor finals (only her third time competing this move) and placed in second behind 2010 world floor champion, Lauren Mitchell.

In 2017, at the Australian National Championships, Little broke her neck on a mistimed flip during her floor routine.[14] She has never competed again.[citation needed]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i "London 2012 - Emily Little". Australian Olympic Committee. 29 March 1994. Archived from the original on 10 October 2012. Retrieved 23 June 2012.
  2. ^ a b c "Gymnasts battle for ticket to the Games". The West Australian. 30 May 2012. Archived from the original on 4 June 2012. Retrieved 23 June 2012.
  3. ^ "The Australian Girls Hope to Finish Sixth as They Did in Beijing". The Australian. 21 June 2012. Retrieved 22 June 2012.
  4. ^ a b c d "Olympic debutants jump for joy". The Canberra Times. 14 September 2010. Retrieved 22 June 2012.
  5. ^ a b "International Gymnast Magazine Online — Mitchell Takes Two Titles at Australian Nationals". Intlgymnast.com. 27 May 2012. Retrieved 23 June 2012.
  6. ^ Jancetic, Steve (28 May 2012). "Lauren Mitchell stars at national gymnatics titles". The Daily Telegraph. Australia. Retrieved 23 June 2012.
  7. ^ "I've got work to do: Mitchell". Fox Sports. 18 June 2012. Retrieved 23 June 2012.
  8. ^ "Twelve women are in line for five seats on the plane to the UK". The Australian. Retrieved 23 June 2012.
  9. ^ "Lauren Mitchell says she's got work to do ahead of London". News.com.au. 18 June 2012. Retrieved 23 June 2012.
  10. ^ "Mitchell heads gymnastics team – Other Sports – Sportal Australia". Sportal.com.au. Archived from the original on 24 June 2012. Retrieved 22 June 2012.
  11. ^ "Australian Olympic Team Announced". Inside Gymnastics Magazine. Archived from the original on 12 May 2014. Retrieved 23 June 2012.
  12. ^ a b "Mitchell not feeling pressure for Games". ABC News. ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation). 21 June 2012. Retrieved 23 June 2012.
  13. ^ "Australian Gymnasts ready to amaze in Olympic arena". Boxscorenews.com. 15 July 2009. Retrieved 23 June 2012.
  14. ^ Le Grand, Chip (7 May 2021). "Cruel game: Former gymnasts open up on culture of fear and control". Brisbane Times. Retrieved 12 August 2021.
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