Lauren Mitchell

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Lauren Mitchell, born July 23, 1991 in Perth, Western Australia is an Australian artistic gymnast who was a World Championships Finalist. She currently trains at the Western Australian Institute of Sport.

In 2007, her first year as a Senior Gymnast, she was the Australian Balance Beam Champion. Mitchell competed at the 2007 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships where the Australian team finished a disappointing 11th in the preliminary competition. However, Mitchell qualified for the Balance Beam event final, where she placed a very respectable 5th, equalling Monette Russo as Australia's highest ever finisher in a Balance Beam World Final ^[1]. Mitchell later stated that she was nervous prior to the final, but pretended she was in training to calm her nerves^[2].

After her strong showing at her debut World Championships, Lauren went on to compete in several international events. At the DTB Cup in Germany, she won a Silver Medal on Beam and a Bronze medal on floor ^[3]. She followed this up at the Good Luck Beijing event held at what will be the venue for the 2008 Summer Olympics, she won the silver medal on the balance beam in what was a very competitive line up ^[4].

To kick off 2008, Lauren competed with WA teammate Daria Joura at two competitions in the USA. At the 10th annual Friendship Classic, Lauren came 2nd all-around behind Dasha, repeating this finish on vault. She also placed 3rd on uneven bars. She won beam with a fantastic score of 15.6, and won floor with her new routine that featured some world-class tumbling (including a new pass of a piked double front Arabian). She will now go on to compete at the Pacific Rim Championships in San Jose.

Mitchell is currently training for the 2008 Olympics Games as one of Australia's strongest gymnastics prospects.

[edit] Trivia

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Mitchell is the oldest of four children. She has three siblings: Brittany, Harrison and Travis ^[5].
She enjoys reading, dancing and listening to music ^[6].
Her favourite apparatus is the beam and floor exercise.