Laurie’s style is reminiscent of Alicia Sacramone and Catalina Ponor, but she is also very unique! Her skills are commanding, and her presence is unmistakable. What makes all of this even more special is the fact that she is only 12 years old!

Last November, Laurie was nominated for Inside Gymnastics magazine’s “On the Verge” poll, and in their most recent issue, they named her as one of the 50 Most Photogenic Gymnasts in the world!

 Laurie recently answered some questions for Full Twist, and I’m pleased to share them with you!

 Q: What is your favorite event or skill to compete?

  Laurie: My favorite event is floor, because I like to perform. And my new favorite skill is my double layout, because it feels like you are flying!

Q: When will your next competition be?

Laurie: I will be competing at American Classic in July, hoping to qualify to Championships. It’s right after a National Team Camp, so it will be a long week.

Q: What do you enjoy doing outside of gymnastics?

 Laurie: I like to paint my nails, and put crazy designs on them. And I like to go shopping. I buy cool looking pre-wrap and tape for in the gym.

Q: What has been your biggest accomplishment in the sport?

Laurie: Well, first it was qualifying International Elite, then it was qualifying to Championships last year. Now I feel really excited to be invited to National Team Camp every month (which I am sitting on the airplane coming home from right now)!

Q: Do you plan to upgrade any routines heading into this year’s national championships?

 Laurie: Yes! On vault, I will compete my Yurchenko double full. On bars I have added a stalder full before my reverse hect, a stalder hect, and an endo 1/2. On beam, I added a back handspring layout layout, and a switch 1/2. And on floor I am doing a double Arabian-sissone, and a piked full in. Plus I have a new floor routine!

Q: Is there any gymnast in particular whom you especially admire?

Laurie: So many…Shawn Johnson.

 Q: Do you have hopes to make the Rio 2016 Olympics?

Laurie: Yes definitely, that is my dream. But I have to take it one year at a time.

Thank you to Laurie for taking the time out to spend 10 minutes with Full Twist.

Interview by Anna Rose Johnson

Photo via: Heather Maynez

 We’re all familiar with the 2-per country rule that allows a maximum of two gymnasts from each country to qualify to a World or Olympic final. Since its beginnings after the 2001 World Championships, the 2-per country rule has been disputed, but it was particularly problematic when world champion Jordyn Wieber failed to qualify to the 2012 Olympic all-around because her score was lower than that of her two U.S. teammates.

            Other incidences that occurred due to this rule:

• Anastasia Grishina (RUS), Jennifer Pinches (GBR), Yao Jinnan (CHN) didn’t qualify to the 2012 Olympic all-around
• Kyla Ross (USA) didn’t qualify to the 2012 Olympic balance beam final
• Gabby Douglas, Sabrina Vega, McKayla Maroney (USA), and Tan Sixin (CHN) didn’t qualify to the 2011 World all-around
• Jiang Yuyuan (CHN) didn’t qualify to the 2011 World all-around, 2011 World beam final, or the 2010 World bars final
• Aly Raisman (USA) and Ksenia Afanasyeva (RUS) didn’t qualify the 2010 World beam final
• Bridget Sloan (USA), Deng Linlin (CHN), and Ksenia Afanasyeva (RUS) didn’t qualify to the 2008 Olympic all-around
• Alicia Sacramone (USA) didn’t qualify to the balance beam final at the 2008 Olympics

Here is the problem with the 2-per country rule: it eliminates gymnasts who have good medal opportunities from competing in the finals.

What would be the best idea to change the system? Should we go back to the 3-per country rule that was in place all the way through the 2001 Worlds? But there were still issues with that rule. For instance, even if the limit had stayed at three gymnasts per country, Sabrina Vega and McKayla Maroney would have still been eliminated from the 2011 World all-around final.

A stretch to a 4-per country rule would most likely solve the problem, but at that point, I don’t see why you wouldn’t just remove the limit altogether. Personally, I would like to see any qualification restrictions taken away. Imagine the excitement if all four members of the World Championship teams this year could compete in the all-around!

Another question that has long been debated is the 24 gymnast all-around field. It used to be 36 gymnasts, back when the 3-per country rule was in place.

I think 24 is a fair number. It certainly would be interesting to have only 24 gymnasts without any limitation rule.

Bruno Grandi, president of the FIG, has stated that Olympic qualification is one of the main issues the FIG will address in the next four years. Hopefully the 2-per country rule will vanish. I think that anything, including the 3-per country rule, would be better than our current system.

Still, it seems doubtful that the rule will change before this year’s Worlds. Of course, it could be interesting if all four gymnasts on the U.S. team were vying for the two spots in the all-around final. It seems like it could be a possible scenario, because at the 2009 World Championships, the U.S. sent the top three all-arounders and a vault/floor specialist (Kayla Williams), who was also an all-arounder. After the retirement of Alicia Sacramone, the U.S. is left with a handful of gymnasts with two vaults (McKayla Maroney, Simone Biles, MyKayla Skinner, Elizabeth Price, Lexie Priessman), and all of them are all-arounders.

And the Russian showdown should be interesting in Antwerp, as well. The team could quite possibly be made up of Aliya Mustafina, Viktoria Komova, Anastasia Grishina, and Ksenia Afanasyeva, and they all could compete in the all-around.

But there would undoubtedly be disappointment with these scenarios. And it would be the fault of the 2-per country rule. I hope that the rule is changed soon.

What is your opinion on the two per country rule? Share your view in the comments below

Image via Getty Images.

Detailed below or both the WAG and MAG Junior results.

WAG

Team Result

1. Wales 201.800

• Angel Romaeo
• Raer Theaker
• Becky Moore
• Holly Jones
• Harriet Moore

2. Isle Of Man 181.450

• Nicole Burns
• Tara Donnelly
• Kaitlin Kneen
• Emily Dale Beeton
• Radha Patel
• Aoife Donnelly

3. Ireland 140.800

• Kristen McKenna
• Claire O’Reilly
• Jessica Ryan
• Ciara Murphy
• Celine Gallagher
• Niamh Rogers

4. Northern Ireland 63.100

• Emma Mackey
• Hannah Leckey

5. Scotland 41.150

• Izzy Tolometi

All Around

MAG Junior
Team

1. Wales 223.350

• Iwan Mepham
• Ben Dennis
• Benjamin Eyre
• Joseph Rowlands
• Jac Davies
• Cilan Thomas

2. Scotland 219.900

• Daniel Iley
• Jamie Carpenter
• Stephen Tonge
• Kelvin Cham

3. Isle of Man 196.000

• Tony Duchars
• Glen Yates
• Anton Inshin
• Lawrence Godsell

4. Ireland 163.150

• Robert Farrington
• Adam Dalton
• Ciaran McGettigan
• Ryan Gettings

All Around

Detailed below or both the WAG and MAG Minor results.

WAG Minor Results

Team

1. Wales 188.600

• Maisie Methuen
• Latalia Bevan
• Adrienne Emmanuel
• Sasha Winton
• Olivia Rabaiotti

2. Scotland 182.950

• Louise McColgan
• Laura Jane Core
• Lucy Orr
• Sarah McKenzie
• Sophia Ramzan

3. Isle of Man 149.400

• Chloe Donnelly
• Eve Wiltcher
• Ella Rose Kenyon
• Kelsie Gibbs
• Sinead Hands
• Chloe McDonald

4. Ireland 138.050

• Niamh Hutchinson
• Shauna Kelly
• Emmeline Anghileri
• Amy O’Neill
• Ellen Hynes

5. Northern Ireland 132.900

• Bailee Hunsdale
• Hannah Morrison
• Casey Bell

All Around

MAG Minor Results
Team

1 Scotland 211.400

• Lucas Thomson
• Pavel Karnejenko
• Kerr McKie
• Adam Logan
• Joshua Lincoln
• Ryan McKerchar

2. Wales 210.400

• Josh Cook
• Morgan Jones
• Toby Lewis
• Emil Barber
• Dex Trivett
• Tyler Smith

3. Northern Ireland 206.300

• Rhys McClenaghan
• Ewan McAteer
• Matthew Devlin

4. Isle of Man 193.000

• Nicholas Harvey
• Robert Jone
• Callum Kewley
• Cedric Lucas
• Connor Esp
• Joshua Morrison 

5. Ireland 168.250

• Ilya Babkin
• Damien Feller
• Luke Walsh
• Oscar Humphries
• Patrick Flanagan

MAG Minor All Around

She told Hemel Today:

“I kind of heard a snap but I didn’t know how bad it was,”.

“I’ve got an operation in a few weeks but I’ve been told I probably won’t be able to compete for about a year”.

Perhaps Gabby can look to fellow British Senior Daniel Keatings for advice. Keatings has bounced back from a difficult two years of injury. He also sustained an ACL tear in early 2010. Following this, he went on to help the British male team qualify for the London 2012 Olympic Games and has most recently been crowned Men’s Pommel Horse European Champion for 2013, beating out Olympic gold and bronze medallists Berki and Whitlock to earn the title.

If you are interested, the video of her sustaining the injury can be found on YouTube but in support of the gymnast I will not link to the video. As I said, if interested, feel free to search for it yourself.