It may be not even two months from the closure of the last Olympic Games in Beijing, but Team GB fans can already look forward to Paris 2024.
The qualification systems are out for all three Gymnastics events (Artistic, Rhythmic, and Trampoline), both Volleyball sports (Beach and Indoor) as well as Breaking, Handball, and Triathlon. More sports are likely to come later, but here is an overview of the systems.
Artistic Gymnastics
In Artistic Gymnastics GB will be aiming to qualify a team of five, who can also enter the individual events, in both genders. The events for that will be the 2022 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships (Oct 29-Nov 6 2022) in our very own city of Liverpool, where the top three teams qualify for each gender and the 2023 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships (Sep 29-Oct 8 2023) in Antwerp, Belgium, where the remaining nine spots are filled. If we miss out on a team spot, individuals can qualify through five criteria (up to three per gender per NOC):
– 2023 World Championships (Top 3 teams per gender that miss out qualify 1 individual spot)
– 2023 World Championships (Top 8 in the Individual All-Around qualify a spot)
– 2023 World Championships (Top 1 in each Individual Apparatus qualifies a spot)
– 2024 Apparatus World Cup Series (Top 2 per apparatus qualify a spot)
– 2024 Continental Championships (Top All-Around athlete for each continent earns a spot).
It probably won’t come to that, as we’ll be aiming to qualify teams for both genders.
Beach Volleyball
GB are unlikely to qualify anyone for Beach Volleyball but who knows. There are 24 pairs for each gender (max. 2 per NOC), including a host spot. The other 23 are qualified thusly (it’s the same for both genders)
– The winner of the 2023 FIVB Beach Volleyball Senior World Championships
– The top 17 in the Olympic Ranking List of 10th June 2024
– The five winners of Continental Qualification Events
I don’t see any Brits qualifying here.
Breaking
The completely new sport of Breaking will have sixteen spots for both genders (max two per NOC), including one host spot and two “universality” places. Here are the thirteen qualification spots (again, the same for both genders):
– The winner of the 2023 WDSF World Championship
– The winner of 5 Continental Games/Championships
– The top 7 in the Olympic Qualifier Series
A lot of the exact dates and details seem up in the air, but it is nice to have a procedure announced at least. The 2021 World Championship was held in December last year, and from what I can tell from the WDSF’s rather awful website no Brits entered the Breaking competition. So that’s that.
Handball
Another sport that is consigned on this blog to brief deprecatory mentions of British prospects, there are twelve spots per gender, and one is for the host. The eleven qualification spots are:
– The winner of the 2023 IHF World Championship
– The winners of four Continental Qualification Events (for men, the 2024 European Championships, and for women, the 2022 European Championships)
– The top two in three different qualification tournaments
Obviously, the idea that we would qualify is ridiculous.
Rhythmic Gymnastics
Rhythmic Gymnastics is a pretty weak sport for us, and I would say it would be a major coup if any Brit qualified at all. Unlike Handball it can’t be completely ruled out. In this women’s only sport, team qualification isn’t integrated with the individual spots (unlike artistic gymnastics). There are fourteen teams (or as they are called ‘groups’), including one host spot. The remaining thirteen are:
– The top three at the 2022 World Championships
– The top five at the 2023 World Championships not already qualified
– The winners of five Continental Championships
The exact Continental Championship is to be confirmed but will take place in 2024. A group spot is unthinkable, while an individual spot is simply extremely improbable. There are 24 spots, take away the host and universality place and there are 22 qualifiers:
– The top three at the 2022 World Championships
– The top fourteen at the 2023 World Championships
– The winners of five Continental Championships.
To put it into perspective, GB came 17th (out of 18) at the 2021 World Championships, and our only individual athlete came 44th. So, while it’s not out of the question, let’s call it an “uphill battle”.
Trampoline
Trampoline is the middle of the three Gymnastics competitions for us, much worse than Artistic but much better than Rhythmic. For both genders, there are 16 spots (14 when you remove the host and universality place): with max 2 per NOC (but only 3 NOCs per gender can have 2 athletes).
Four to eight places will be earned at the 2023 World Championships (9-12 Nov 2023), that take place on home soil in Birmingham: eight qualify for the final, but only one place per NOC can be earned. Let’s say two Brits, qualify for the final, only one will get a spot. The remaining spots will be earned at the 2023 and 2024 Trampoline Individual World Cup Series and 2024 Continental Championships.
Our hope will be a full team of two men and two women, but that seems difficult. An optimistic but still realistic goal I think is one man and two women.
Triathlon
In Triathlon, there is a Men’s and Women’s event: NOCs with at least two in each also bag a spot in the Mixed Relay. There are 55 spots per gender (max. 3 per NOC), with 51 once two host and Universality spots are taken out. Qualification will hopefully be simple for a full set of three per gender, but here is the timeline (it’s the same for both genders):
– The winner of the 2022 Mixed Relay Championships get 2 spots per gender
– The winner of the 2022 Mixed Relay Championships get 2 spots per gender
– The top 6 of the Mixed Relay World Ranking get 2 spots per gender
– The top 4 in a Mixed Relay Olympic Qualification Event get 2 spots per gender
(As far as I can tell, you can only bag one of these 12 “Mixed Relay” places)
– The top 26 in the Individual Olympic Ranking get a spot
– The top ranked from each of five continents not already qualified get a spot
Triathlon is a strong sport for us, let’s see how we do.
Volleyball
Volleyball is anything but a strong sport, and we will not qualify a team. 12 spots exist per gender, and that’s 11 qualification spots when you remove the hosts. The top two teams at three qualification events and then the top five in a world ranking qualify, a change that is sure to make waves in the volleyball world.
But not in Great Britain. Because we are probably not in the top 110 volleyball nations, never mind the top 11.
With the provisional system for equestrian also out, who knows how long we have to wait until other qualification systems come out. We’ll update you on GB Games as soon as they are available.
GB Games 