Emily Whitehead Explained

Emily Whitehead
Nickname:Em
Birth Date:2000 12, df=yes
Height:162 cm
Discipline:WAG
Natlteam:2014 - present (AUS)
Club:Waverley Gymnastics Centre
Headcoach:John Hart
Show-Medals:yes

Emily Whitehead (born 11 December 2000)[1] is an Australian artistic gymnast. At the 2018 Commonwealth Games, she won a bronze medal in the team event and on the vault. She represented Australia at the 2020 Summer Olympics and is a two-time Oceanic all-around champion (2021-22). She is the 2015 Australian junior national all-around champion and a three-time national all-around medalist at the senior level (2018, 2021-22). She won a silver medal on the vault at the 2018 Melbourne World Cup.

Personal life

Whitehead was born in Mornington, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, and attended Mount Waverley Secondary College.[2] She began gymnastics when she was four years old because her older sister was also a gymnast.[3]

Whitehead currently studies a Bachelor of Exercise and Sport Science at Deakin University.[4]

Career

Junior

Whitehead made her international debut at the 2014 City of Jesolo Trophy, helping the Australian team place fifth and finishing twenty-fourth in the all-around.[5] Then at the 2014 Pacific Rim Championships, she finished fifth with the team and qualified for the floor exercise final where she finished eighth.[6] [7] Her final competition of the 2014 season was the Australian Championships held in Melbourne. She won a gold medal with the Victorian team and won the all-around silver medal behind teammate Alysha Djuric. She also won the gold medal on the balance beam and the bronze medal on the floor exercise, and she placed fifth on vault and fourth on uneven bars.[8]

Whitehead opened her 2015 season at the City of Jesolo Trophy placing fourth with the Australian team and in the uneven bars event final.[9] Then at the Australian Championships, she won the all-around title in addition to the team, uneven bars, and floor exercise titles. She also won the silver medal on the balance beam behind Talia Folino and the bronze medal on the vault.[10] The final meet of her junior career was the Junior Japan International held in Yokohama. She only competed on the uneven bars and did not advance into the event final.[11]

Senior

Whitehead became age-eligible for senior competition in 2016. She was initially selected to represent Australia at the 2016 Olympic Test Event in its effort to qualify a team spot for the 2016 Olympic Games.[12] However, during podium training at the 2016 Pacific Rim Championships, she tore her calf muscle and had to withdraw from the team and Olympic selection.[13] At the 2016 Australian Championships, she only competed on the uneven bars and won the silver medal behind Rianna Mizzen in addition to a team gold medal with Victoria.[14] [15]

Whitehead returned to all-around competition at the 2017 American Cup in Newark, New Jersey where she finished seventh with a total score of 48.399.[16] At the 2017 International Gymnix, she won a silver medal on the uneven bars behind Japan's Hitomi Hatakeda and also placed seventh with the team, tenth in the all-around, and seventh on the floor exercise.[17]

Whitehead won the silver medal on the vault at the 2018 Melbourne World Cup behind Slovenia's Tjaša Kysselef, the first World Cup medal of her career.[18] She was selected to represent Australia at the 2018 Commonwealth Games alongside Georgia-Rose Brown, Alexandra Eade, Rianna Mizzen, and Georgia Godwin, and they won the bronze medal in the team event behind England and Canada. She won the bronze medal in the vault final behind Canadians Shallon Olsen and Ellie Black.[19] She also competed in the balance beam final and finished fifth.[20] At the Australian Championships, she won the silver medal in the all-around behind Georgia Godwin and also took home team gold. She also won the gold medal on vault, the silver medal on floor exercise, the bronze medal on balance beam, and placed fourth on uneven bars.[21] Then in September at the Australian Classic, she won the all-around bronze medal behind Georgia-Rose Brown and Rianna Mizzen. She also won the silver medal on the floor exercise and placed fourth on the uneven bars and balance beam.[22] She then competed at the 2018 World Championships in Doha alongside Georgia-Rose Brown, Alexandra Eade, Emma Nedov, and Erin Modaro, and the team finished fifteenth in the qualification round.[23]

Whitehead began her 2019 season at the Australian Championships and finished fourth in the all-around, uneven bars, balance beam and ninth in the floor exercise.[24] Then at the FIT Challenge in Ghent, the Australian team won the silver medal behind the Netherlands, and Whitehead placed seventh in the all-around.[25] In August 2019, she sustained fractures in both sides of her back, leaving her out of the gym for three months and ending her 2019 season.[2] [26] She did not compete in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia.[27]

Whitehead won the all-around gold medal at the 2021 Oceanic Championships and earned a continental quota spot for the 2020 Olympics.[28] [29] Then at the 2021 Australian Championships, she won the all-around silver medal behind Georgia Godwin. She also won the uneven bars and floor exercise silver medals and placed fourth on the balance beam.[30] She represented Australia at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo alongside teammate Georgia Godwin. In the qualification round, Whitehead finished forty-fourth in the all-around with a total score of 52.298 and did not advance into any finals.[31]

Whitehead began her 2022 season at the DTB Pokal Team Challenge in Stuttgart where Australia won the bronze medal behind the United States and Italy.[32] In the event finals, she won the bronze medal on the floor exercise behind Angela Andreoli and Konnor McClain and also placed fourth on the balance beam.[33] Then at the Australian Championships, she won the all-around silver medal behind Georgia Godwin. She also won gold on floor exercise and bronze on balance beam, and she placed fourth on the uneven bars.[34] She defended her all-around title at the 2022 Oceania Championships and also won team, vault, and floor exercise gold, silver on uneven bars, and bronze on balance beam.[35] She was then selected to represent Australia at the 2022 Commonwealth Games alongside Romi Brown, Georgia Godwin, Kate McDonald, and Breanna Scott.[36]

In June 2024 Whitehead was named to the Australian team to compete at the 2024 Olympic Games alongside Kate McDonald, Emma Nedov, Ruby Pass, and Breanna Scott.[37]

Competitive history

YearEventTeamAAVTUBBBFX
Junior
2014City of Jesolo Trophy5 24
Pacific Rim Championships5 8
Australian Championships5 4
2015City of Jesolo Trophy4 4
Australian Championships
Senior
2016Australian Championships
2017American Cup7
International Gymnix7 10 7
2018Melbourne World Cup
Commonwealth Games5
Australian Championships4
Australian Classic4 4
World Championships15
2019Australian Championships4 4 4 9
FIT Challenge7
2021Oceanic Championships
Australian Championships4
Olympic Games44
2022DTB Pokal Team Challenge4
Australian Championships4
Oceanic Championships
align=left 12 8
2023
align=left 9
2024 align=left
align=left Olympic Games 10

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Emily Whitehead . . 24 April 2020 . 30 May 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200530081758/https://results.gc2018.com/en/artistic-gymnastics/athlete-profile-n6029346-emily-whitehead.htm . dead .
  2. Web site: Emily Whitehead . . 2 April 2018 . 24 April 2020.
  3. Web site: Emily Whitehead . . 10 July 2022.
  4. Web site: The 2022 Commonwealth Games begin this week: good luck to our elite-athlete students and alumni in Birmingham . Deakin Life . 25 July 2022 . Deakin University . 27 July 2022.
  5. Web site: USA sweeps medals in Jesolo . . 22 July 2022 . 22 March 2014 . 20 September 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220920174223/https://usagym.org/pages/post.html?PostID=13768 . dead .
  6. Web site: 2014 Pacific Rim Championships April 9-12, 2014 – Richmond Olympic Oval Team Results . Gymnastics Results . 22 July 2022 . 9 April 2014.
  7. Web site: 2014 Pacific Rim Championships April 9-12, 2014 – Richmond Olympic Oval Session WAG Junior Finals . Gymnastics Results . 22 July 2022 . 4 . 11 April 2014.
  8. Web site: 2014 Australian Gymnastics Championships . Waverley Gymnastics Centre . 21 May 2014 . 22 July 2022.
  9. Web site: Classifica risultati: Ginnastica Artistica Femminile Juniores. Gymnastics Results. Italian Gymnastics Federation. 29 March 2015. Italian. 29 March 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150402135834/http://www.gymnasticsresults.com/2015/eu/ita/jesolo/junaf.pdf. 2 April 2015. dead.
  10. Web site: Hopkins . Lauren . 2015 Australian Championships Results . The Gymternet . 22 July 2022 . 20 May 2015.
  11. Web site: 2015 International Junior Gymnastics Competition Results . Gymnastics Results . Japan Gymnastics Association . 22 July 2022 . 22 September 2015.
  12. Web site: 12 things that happened in Gymnastics this week . . 10 July 2022 . 16 March 2016.
  13. Web site: Emily Whitehead . . 10 July 2022.
  14. Web site: 16AGC WAG JR & SR Apparatus Final Part 1 WAG Senior International Apparatus Finals - Bars . Gymnastics Results . . 22 July 2022 . 28 May 2016.
  15. Web site: 16AGC WAG CI . Gymnastics Results . . 22 July 2022 . 27 May 2016.
  16. Web site: Yul Moldauer, Ragan Smith swing to American Cup titles . . 10 July 2022 . 6 March 2017.
  17. Web site: Hopkins . Lauren . 2017 International Gymnix Results . The Gymternet . 22 July 2022 . 10 March 2017.
  18. Web site: 2018 World Cup Gymnastics Finals Day 1 - Vault . Gymnastics Results . 7 November 2021 . 24 February 2018.
  19. Web site: Artistic Gymnastics Women's Vault Final . . 7 November 2021 . 8 April 2018 . 7 November 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20211107185239/https://results.gc2018.com/resCG2018-/pdf/CG2018-/GAR/CG2018-_GAR_C73J_GARW1APVT-------------FNL---------.pdf . dead .
  20. Web site: Artistic Gymnastics Women's Balance Beam Final . . 22 July 2022 . 9 April 2018 . 9 April 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180409162011/https://results.gc2018.com/resCG2018-/pdf/CG2018-/GAR/CG2018-_GAR_C73I_GARW1APBB-------------FNL---------.pdf . dead .
  21. Web site: Hopkins . Lauren . 2018 Australian Championships Results . The Gymternet . 22 July 2022 . 30 May 2018.
  22. Web site: Hopkins . Lauren . 2018 Australian Classic Results . The Gymternet . 22 July 2022 . 20 September 2018.
  23. Web site: 48th Artistic Gymnastics World Championships Doha (QAT), 25 October - 3 November 2018 Women's Team Qualification . . . 22 July 2022 . 4 . 27 October 2018.
  24. Web site: Hopkins . Lauren . 2019 Australian Championships Results . The Gymternet . 22 July 2022 . 27 May 2019.
  25. Web site: Hopkins . Lauren . 2019 FIT Challenge Results . The Gymternet . 22 July 2022 . 10 June 2019.
  26. Web site: Emily Whitehead . . 10 July 2022.
  27. Web site: Coverdale . Gus . Emily Whitehead: The Oceania Continental Champion . Gymnastics Victoria . 10 July 2022.
  28. Web site: Hopkins. Lauren. Whitehead Overcomes Injury to Earn Olympics Berth; Koudinov Set for Second Games. The Gymternet. 21 May 2021. 10 July 2022.
  29. Web site: Courageous acts, historic results defined Women's Artistic Gymnastics in 2021 . . 10 July 2022 . 31 December 2021.
  30. Web site: Hopkins . Lauren . 2021 Australian Championships Results . The Gymternet . 22 July 2022 . 23 May 2021.
  31. Web site: Knaus . Shannon . Godwin and Whitehead's Olympic Dream Realised . . 10 July 2022 . 26 July 2021.
  32. Web site: U.S. women top the junior, senior DTB Pokal Team Challenge podiums on Day 2 of competition . . 22 July 2022 . 19 March 2022.
  33. Web site: U.S. women collect six individual medals as 2022 DTB Pokal Team Challenge concludes . . 22 July 2022 . 20 March 2022.
  34. Web site: Hopkins . Lauren . 2022 Australian Championships Results . The Gymternet . 22 July 2022 . 23 May 2022.
  35. Web site: Hopkins . Lauren . 2022 Oceania Championships Results . The Gymternet . 22 July 2022 . 25 May 2022.
  36. Web site: Vaughn . Roger . Bull has big gymnastics win ahead of Games . Western Advocate . . 22 July 2022 . 20 June 2022.
  37. Web site: Largest Australian gymnastics team ever named for Paris Olympics. News.com.au. June 18, 2024.