Olympics: Call-up joy for Laura Bartlett and Emily Maguire

There were mixed feelings among the Scottish quartet when Great Britain women’s head coach Danny Kerry announced his squad of 16 for the Olympic Games in London. It was joy for the Reading pair of Laura Bartlett and Emily Maguire who have made the final cut, frustration for Canterbury goalkeeper Abi Walker, who will be one of the two travelling reserves, and dejection for VWS Dundee Wanderers’ Vikki Bunce, who will miss out on the Olympic occasion altogether.

Considering Kerry’s recent run of selections for tournaments like the Champions Trophy and the pre-Olympic event in London a few weeks ago, the fate of the four Scots was perhaps not a great surprise.

However, Kerry said: “Words cannot describe how difficult it has been to make the final decision in selecting the squad. Since we centralised our training programme in late 2009, our process has been continuous, making it the most thorough and exhaustive ever. We have chosen what we feel is the best combination of players for the Olympic Games and we have the most powerful squad spirit I have ever known.”

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Kerry will be hoping that he has picked a squad to improve on sixth place at the Beijing Games four years ago and achieve a medal in front of the home crowd. Recent good form has seen the GB women win silver at the Champions Trophy in January and beat the world’s second-ranked side Argentina 2-0 to win the Olympic Test Event at the Riverside Arena in London.

London will be 23-year-old Bartlett’s second Olympic experience, the Glasgow-born midfielder having been named as travelling reserve for Beijing four years ago, but a serious injury to England’s Jennie Bimson gave the young Scot her chance. Her dream of London almost foundered on a serious knee injury sustained playing for GB against Germany in May 2010, but her mental toughness saw her back playing for Scotland a year later.

The former Western player moved south to be closer to the GB hub in the south of England and has played for Reading for the past two seasons. “To be named in the squad for London is the ultimate prize for the past four years of hard work,” she said.

Maguire, also of Reading, has been a permanent fixture in most of Kerry’s selections, but her outstanding performance in the Champions Trophy in Argentina at the start of the year could well have sealed her Olympic place. Scotland goalkeeper Walker can consider herself unlucky to be consigned to reserve status. Kerry has taken the risk of taking only one keeper, but England’s Beth Storry is one of the world’s best.

Perhaps the writing was on the wall for Bunce when she failed to get into the squad for the Champions Trophy, but there can be no doubt about her commitment to the Olympic dream as the Taysider commuted from Dundee to the south of England in the bid to make the final cut.

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