Aussie-born gymnast Georgia-Rose Brown has been added to the New Zealand team to compete at the Paris Olympics.
Brown, 29, has extensive international experience, including Commonwealth Games team silver at Glasgow 2014, and balance beam silver and team bronze at Gold Coast 2018.
She has represented Australia at five world championships, but never achieved Olympic selection for her country of birth. Now she has that opportunity for her mother's country of origin.
"I've had the opportunity to represent my dad's side, so now I'd like to represent my mum's side too," she said. "I've wanted to compete at the Olympics since I made my first international team in 2010, so this means the world to me.
"Everything I've worked for throughout my career has paid off. I am so grateful.
"I'm looking forward to just immersing myself in the whole Olympic experience and enjoying it. Performance-wise the goal is to hit all of my routines and possibly make an all-around final."
Brown's change of allegiance has been ratified by the International Olympic Committee and she qualified for Paris by topping the uneven bars competitors across World Cup series events at Cairo (Egypt), Cottbus (Germany), Baku (Azerbaijan) and Doha (Qatar).
"Bars is my favourite apparatus and the one that comes the most naturally to me, but I still train all four apparatus and consider myself an allrounder,”" she said.
Brown will compete for New Zealand at the Oceania championships at Auckland on May 26.
