Lauren Mitchell

Career At the 2005 Australian Junior Championships, Mitchell finished seventh in the all-around, balance beam, and floor exercise and eighth on the uneven bars. She missed the 2006 season due to a hamstring injury.

2007: Senior and World Championships debut Mitchell became age-eligible for senior international competition in 2007. She competed at the WOGA Classic in Plano, 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 the floor exercise. Individually, she qualified for the balance beam event final and placed fifth with a score of 15.425. 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.

2008: First Olympic Games Mitchell performing a layout step-out on the balance beam during the 2009 World Championships. Mitchell competed at the Pacific Rim Championships where the Australian team finished fourth behind the United States, Canada, and China. She qualified for the uneven bars final and placed fourth with a score of 15.100. 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.

Mitchell was selected to represent Australia at the 2008 Summer Olympics alongside Georgia Bonora, Ashleigh Brennan, Daria Joura, Shona Morgan, and Olivia Vivian. The team finished sixth in the team final which was the highest team finish in Australian gymnastics history. After the Olympics, she competed at the Stuttgart World Cup and won the silver medal on both the balance beam and the floor exercise. She also became the national champion on the uneven bars, balance beam, and floor exercise. Then in October, she competed at the World Championships at The 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. She went on to win two silver medals in the event finals, on the floor exercise behind Great Britain's Beth Tweddle and on the balance beam behind China's Deng Linlin. 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. Mitchell broke her hand in December. She also won a silver medal on the floor exercise behind English gymnast Imogen Cairns. Mitchell's four gold medals tied the Commonwealth Games record for a female gymnast with Lori Strong from the 1990 Commonwealth Games.

Mitchell was then selected to compete at the World Championships in Rotterdam alongside Georgia Bonora, Ashleigh Brennan, Emily Little, Larrissa Miller, and Georgia Wheeler, and they finished sixth in the team competition. Mitchell also finished sixth in the all-around with a total score of 58.133, 0.833 away from the bronze medal score. 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. 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 in 2006).

In November, Mitchell competed at the Stuttgart 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. 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. Her final competition of the season was the Toyota Cup where she won the gold medal on the balance beam. She then went to the Paris World Cup where she finished fourth on the balance beam. Then at the Japan Cup in Tokyo, she placed fourth in the all-around with a total score of 53.750. She also finished fourth with the Australian team in the team competition.

In July, Mitchell won gold medals in the all-around, vault, balance beam, and floor exercise at the Australian Championships. She was then selected for the World Championships team alongside Ashleigh Brennan, Larrissa Miller, Emily Little, Georgia-Rose Brown, and Mary-Anne Monckton. At the World Championships, the Australian team finished eighth, and Mitchell finished eighth in the all-around and fifth on the floor exercise.

2012: Second Olympic Games Mitchell competing her floor routine at the Australian Championships. In March, Mitchell competed at the Pacific Rim Championships where the Australian team finished fourth. In the event finals, she finished fifth on both the balance beam and the floor exercise. Then in April, she competed at the Zibo World Cup and won the bronze medal on the balance beam behind Chinese gymnasts Yao Jinnan and Huang Qiushuang and the gold medal on the floor exercise. At the Australian Championships in Sydney, 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.

alt=A group shot of the 2012 Australian Olympic gymnastics team, showing Emily Little, Lauren Mitchell, Peggy Liddick, Kate Lundy, Larrissa Miller, Georgia Bonora and Ashleigh Brennan. 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 the Australian Institute of Sport. Their Olympic training preparations included learning how to deal with flash photography with strobe lighting used at practice and being exposed to distracting noises. The Australian team only finished tenth in the qualification round and did not advance to the team finals. Mitchell qualified for the floor exercise event final where she finished fifth. She had shoulder reconstruction surgery after the Olympics.

2014: Comeback Mitchell returned to competition at the Doha World Cup and finished fourth on the floor exercise. She then went to the Korea Cup in Incheon where she once again placed fourth on the floor exercise. Then at the Australian Championships, she won the bronze medal on the balance beam and the gold medal on the floor exercise. At the Commonwealth Games, Mitchell won a silver medal with the Australian team and on the floor exercise behind Claudia Fragapane. She was initially named to Australia's team for the World Championships, but she withdrew after injuring both of her ankles during podium training.

2015–2016: Injury and retirement Mitchell competed at the 2015 Australian Championships and won the gold medal on the floor exercise and placed fourth on the balance beam. While preparing to represent Australia at the 2015 Summer Universiade, she tore her ACL and PCL and had surgery in June.

Mitchell returned to competition at the 2016 Australian Championships and was inducted into Gymnastics Australia's Hall of Fame after the qualification round. In the event finals, she won the gold medal on the balance beam and the bronze medal on the floor exercise. However, Australia had only qualified one spot for the 2016 Olympics, and Mitchell was not selected. Her final competition was the Anadia World Challenge Cup where she qualified in third place for the balance beam event final, but she withdrew due to an injury.

Personal life Mitchell graduated from Curtin University and now works as a radiographer at Royal Perth Hospital. She is also a motivational speaker. She has been a member of both the Gymnastics Western Australia High Performance Advisory Committee and the Commonwealth Games Athlete Advisory Commission since 2019.

Eponymous skills Mitchell has the triple wolf turn named after her in the Code of Points on both the balance beam and the floor exercise. ApparatusNameDescriptionDifficultyAdded to Code of PointsBalance beam Floor exercise Mitchell triple turn (1080°) in tuck stand on one leg – free leg optional E (0.5) 2010 World Championships

Competitive history Mitchell (right) on the balance beam podium at the 2009 World Championships.