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| Full name | Lauren Stephanie Mitchell[2] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | (1991-07-23)23 July 1991 (age 34) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gymnastics career | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Women's artistic gymnastics | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Country represented |  Australia(2007–2016 (AUS)) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | Western Australian Institute of Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Head coaches |
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| Eponymous skills | Balance Beam andFloor Exercise: triple turn (1080°) in tuck stand on one leg – free leg optional[1] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Retired | 27 September 2016 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Lauren Stephanie MitchellOAM (born 23 July 1991)[1] is an Australian formerartistic gymnast. She is the2010 World champion on thefloor exercise and the2009 World Championships silver medalist on thebalance beam and floor exercise. Mitchell is only the second Australian female gymnast to win a medal at theWorld Championships, and she is the first to win a gold medal. She is the2010 Commonwealth Games champion in the all-around,uneven bars, and balance beam, and withthe Australian team, and she is the2008 World Cup Final balance beam champion. She also representedAustralia at the 2008 and2012 Olympic Games.
In her first year of senior competition, Mitchell qualified for the balance beam event final at the2007 World Championships. Then at the2008 Summer Olympics, she helped the Australian team place sixth, their highest finish ever. She then became the first Australian gymnast to win more than one medal at the same World Championships when she won two silver medals in 2009. The next year, she tied the record for the most gold medals won by a female gymnast at a singleCommonwealth Games and became Australia's first female World champion in gymnastics. At her second Olympic Games in 2012, she qualified forthe floor exercise final and finished fifth. She won two more Commonwealth medals in 2014, silver withthe team and on thefloor exercise. Mitchell retired from gymnastics in 2016 as Australia's most decorated gymnast.
Lauren Mitchell was born on 23 July 1991 inSubiaco, an inner suburb ofPerth, to Leanne and Graeme Mitchell, and she is the oldest of four siblings.[1][3][4] She is of Romanian descent through her mother.[3] She began gymnastics when she was six years old after a gymnastics birthday party.[5]
At the 2005 Australian Junior Championships, Mitchell finished seventh in the all-around, balance beam, and floor exercise and eighth on the uneven bars.[6] She missed the 2006 season due to a hamstring injury.[7]
Mitchell becameage-eligible for senior international competition in 2007. She competed at theWOGA Classic inPlano, Texas and helped the Australian team win the bronze medal. Individually, Mitchell placed fourth in the all-around, won the silver medal on the balance beam and the bronze medal on thefloor exercise.[6] She then traveled toKyiv to compete in theStella Zakharova Cup where the Australian team finished sixth. Individually, Mitchell won the bronze medal in the all-around and the silver medal on the balance beam, and she finished fifth on the uneven bars and seventh on the floor exercise.[6] Then in May at the Australian Championships, she won the gold medal with the Western Australian team and the silver medal in the all-around. She also won the gold medal on the balance beam and the silver medal on the floor exercise, and she placed fifth on the uneven bars and eleventh on thevault.[6]
In July, Mitchell helped the Australian team win a gold medal against Japan in a friendly meet. Individually, she won the bronze medal in the all-around behind Daria Joura andKōko Tsurumi. She also won the silver medals on the balance beam and on the floor exercise.[6] She was selected to compete at theWorld Championships alongside Daria Joura,Shona Morgan,Hollie Dykes, andChloe Sims, and they finished eleventh in the qualification round.[8] Individually, she qualified for the balance beam event final and placed fifth with a score of 15.425.[9] After her debut World Championships, she competed at the DTB Cup in Germany and won a silver medal on the balance beam and a bronze medal on the floor exercise.[6] Her final competition of the season was the Olympic Test Event, where she won the silver medal on the balance beam and placed fourth in the all-around.[10]
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Mitchell competed at thePacific Rim Championships where the Australian team finished fourth behind the United States, Canada, and China.[11] She qualified for the uneven bars final and placed fourth with a score of 15.100.[12] In May, she competed at the Australian Championships where she finished fourth in the all-around, and she helped Western Australia win the silver medal in the team competition behind Victoria. She also placed seventh on the uneven bars, won the silver medal on the balance beam behind Shona Morgan, and finished fourth on the floor exercise.[6] She then competed at the Moscow World Cup where she finished fifth on both the uneven bars and the balance beam.[13][14]
Mitchell was selected to representAustralia at the 2008 Summer Olympics alongsideGeorgia Bonora,Ashleigh Brennan, Daria Joura, Shona Morgan, andOlivia Vivian. The team finished sixth inthe team final which was the highest team finish in Australian gymnastics history.[15] After the Olympics, she competed at the Stuttgart World Cup and won the silver medal on both the balance beam and the floor exercise.[6] She then won the gold medal on the balance beam at theWorld Cup Final making her the first Australian gymnast to win a gold medal at the World Cup Final.[7][15]
In July, Mitchell competed at the Australian Championships inPerth and claimed her first national all-around title with a total score of 112.325.[16] She also became the national champion on the uneven bars, balance beam, and floor exercise.[17][18][19] Then in October, she competed at theWorld Championships atThe O2 Arena in London. She finished fourth all-around and was 0.025 points away from the bronze medal after she took a 0.100 deduction on the floor exercise for stepping out of bounds.[20][21] She went on to win two silver medals in the event finals, on the floor exercise behind Great Britain'sBeth Tweddle and on the balance beam behind China'sDeng Linlin.[22][23] This made her the first Australian female gymnast to medal at the World Championships and the first Australian gymnast to win two medals at the same World Championships.[15][24] Mitchell broke her hand in December.[7]
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After recovering from her broken hand, Mitchell sprained her ankle on a tumbling pass in March, and then strained heradductor in July, which ultimately caused her to miss the Australian Championships.[7] She returned to competition at theCommonwealth Games and wonthe team gold medal alongside teammatesGeorgia Bonora,Ashleigh Brennan,Emily Little, andGeorgia Wheeler.[25] She then went on to win gold inthe all-around, on theuneven bars, and on thebalance beam, for a total of four gold medals.[26] She also won a silver medal on thefloor exercise behind English gymnastImogen Cairns. Mitchell's four gold medals tied the Commonwealth Games record for a female gymnast withLori Strong from the1990 Commonwealth Games.[27][28]
Mitchell was then selected to compete at theWorld Championships inRotterdam alongside Georgia Bonora, Ashleigh Brennan, Emily Little,Larrissa Miller, and Georgia Wheeler, and they finished sixth in the team competition.[29] Mitchell also finished sixth in the all-around with a total score of 58.133, 0.833 away from the bronze medal score.[30] In the balance beam final, she finished fourth with a score of 15.200, only 0.033 away from the bronze medal. She then won gold on the floor exercise with a score of 14.833.[31] This was the first World title for a female Australian gymnast and the second World title for any Australian gymnast (Philippe Rizzo won the horizontal bar title in2006).[32]
In November, Mitchell competed at theStuttgart World Cup and won the gold medal on the floor exercise, balance beam, and uneven bars, making her the first Australian gymnast to win three gold medals at a single World Cup event.[33] She then competed at the Glasgow World Cup where she won two more gold medals on the balance beam and floor exercise and the bronze medal on the uneven bars.[34] Her final competition of the season was the Toyota Cup where she won the gold medal on the balance beam.[6]
On 5 March, Mitchell competed at theAmerican Cup inJacksonville, Florida where she finished sixth in the all-around with a total score of 54.932.[35] She then went to theParis World Cup where she finished fourth on the balance beam.[36] Then at the Japan Cup in Tokyo, she placed fourth in the all-around with a total score of 53.750.[37] She also finished fourth with the Australian team in the team competition.[38]
In July, Mitchell won gold medals in the all-around,vault, balance beam, and floor exercise at the Australian Championships.[39][40] She was then selected for theWorld Championships team alongsideAshleigh Brennan,Larrissa Miller,Emily Little,Georgia-Rose Brown, andMary-Anne Monckton.[41] At the World Championships, the Australian team finished eighth, and Mitchell finished eighth in the all-around and fifth on the floor exercise.[42][43][44]
In March, Mitchell competed at thePacific Rim Championships where the Australian team finished fourth.[45] In the event finals, she finished fifth on both the balance beam and the floor exercise.[46] Then in April, she competed at theZibo World Cup and won the bronze medal on the balance beam behind Chinese gymnastsYao Jinnan andHuang Qiushuang and the gold medal on the floor exercise.[47][48] At the Australian Championships inSydney, she did not compete on the uneven bars in order to protect a sore shoulder. Although she did not compete in the all-around, she won the gold medal on both the floor exercise and the balance beam.[49][50]
In June, she 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 theAustralian Institute of Sport.[51] Their Olympic training preparations included learning how to deal with flash photography with strobe lighting used at practice and being exposed to distracting noises.[22][52]
On 21 June 2012, she was formally named to representAustralia at the 2012 Summer Olympics alongsideGeorgia Bonora,Ashleigh Brennan,Emily Little, andLarrissa Miller.[20][53][52][54] The Australian team only finished tenth inthe qualification round and did not advance to the team finals.[55] Mitchell qualified for thefloor exercise event final where she finished fifth.[56] She had shoulder reconstruction surgery after the Olympics.[57]
Mitchell returned to competition at theDoha World Cup and finished fourth on the floor exercise.[58] She then went to the Korea Cup inIncheon where she once again placed fourth on the floor exercise.[59] Then at the Australian Championships, she won the bronze medal on the balance beam and the gold medal on the floor exercise.[60][61] At theCommonwealth Games, Mitchell won a silver medalwith the Australian team and on thefloor exercise behindClaudia Fragapane.[62][63] She was initially named to Australia's team for theWorld Championships, but she withdrew after injuring both of her ankles duringpodium training.[64]
Mitchell competed at the 2015 Australian Championships and won the gold medal on the floor exercise and placed fourth on the balance beam.[65] While preparing to representAustralia at the 2015 Summer Universiade, shetore her ACL andPCL and had surgery in June.[66][67]
Mitchell returned to competition at the 2016 Australian Championships and was inducted intoGymnastics Australia's Hall of Fame after the qualification round.[68] In the event finals, she won the gold medal on the balance beam and the bronze medal on the floor exercise.[69] However, Australia had only qualified one spot for the 2016 Olympics, and Mitchell was not selected.[70] Her final competition was theAnadia World Challenge Cup where she qualified in third place for the balance beam event final, but she withdrew due to an injury.[15]
Mitchell announced her retirement from gymnastics on 27 September 2016, stating "I've given everything that I could to the sport and I have no regrets."[71]
Mitchell graduated fromCurtin University and now works as aradiographer atRoyal Perth Hospital.[72][73] She is also a motivational speaker.[74] She has been a member of both the Gymnastics Western Australia High Performance Advisory Committee and theCommonwealth Games Athlete Advisory Commission since 2019.[2]
In 2021, she was awarded theMedal of the Order of Australia in recognition of her service to gymnastics.[2]
Mitchell has thetriple wolf turn named after her in theCode of Points on both the balance beam and the floor exercise.[75][76]
| Apparatus | Name | Description | Difficulty[a] | Added to Code of Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Balance beam Floor exercise | Mitchell[b] | triple turn (1080°) in tuck stand on one leg – free leg optional | E (0.5) | 2010 World Championships |
| Year | Event | Team | AA | VT | UB | BB | FX |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Junior Australian Championships | 7 | 8 | 7 | 7 | ||
| 2007 | WOGA Classic |  | 4 |  | | ||
| Stella Zakharova Cup | 6 | | 5 | | 7 | ||
| Australian Championships |  | | 11 | 5 | | | |
| Australia-Japan Friendly | | | | | |||
| World Championships | 11 | 5 | |||||
| Stuttgart World Cup | 4 | | | ||||
| Olympic Test Event | 4 | | |||||
| 2008 | Pacific Rim Championships | 4 | 4 | ||||
| Australian Championships | | 4 | 7 | | 4 | ||
| Moscow World Cup | 5 | 5 | |||||
| Olympic Games | 6 | ||||||
| Stuttgart World Cup | | | |||||
| World Cup Final | | ||||||
| 2009 | Australian Championships | | | | | ||
| World Championships | 4 | | | ||||
| 2010 | |||||||
| Commonwealth Games | | | | | | ||
| World Championships | 6 | 6 | 4 | | |||
| Stuttgart World Cup | | | | ||||
| Glasgow World Cup | | | | ||||
| Toyota Cup | | ||||||
| 2011 | American Cup | 6 | |||||
| Paris World Cup | 4 | ||||||
| Japan Cup | 4 | 4 | |||||
| Australian Championships | | | | | |||
| World Championships | 8 | 8 | 5 | ||||
| 2012 | Pacific Rim Championships | 4 | 5 | 5 | |||
| Zibo World Challenge Cup | | | |||||
| Australian Championships | | | |||||
| Olympic Games | 5 | ||||||
| 2014 | Doha World Challenge Cup | 4 | |||||
| Korea Cup | 4 | ||||||
| Australian Championships | | | |||||
| Commonwealth Games | | 6 | | ||||
| 2015 | Australian Championships | 4 | | ||||
| 2016 | Australian Championships | | |
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