RHYTHMIC gymnast Jade Faulkner and her Great Britain teammates might have been put through the emotional wringer in recent times, but the Swindonian believes that coming through adversity has made the group a stronger proposition.

Swindon’s Faulkner and Team GB achieved the qualifying mark required to make the Games at a London Prepares test event in January, only to be told by British Gymnastics that they had hit their target a day too late, prompting floods of tears at the North Greenwich Arena.

However, the self-funded group appealed against the decision to an arbitrator, arguing that they were not made aware off the cut-off date, and the Sport Resolutions Panel upheld their appeal.

That verdict resulted in the group breathing a huge sigh of relief as it meant they were to be recommended to the British Olympic Association to compete in the Games, which will make them the first British team to compete in rhythmic gymnastics at any Olympics.

“My life has changed quite a lot since then,” admitted Faulkner, 18. “Before then we couldn’t really get excited about the Olympics because we had to prepare ourselves just in case we weren’t going.

“I didn’t really know what the procedure was (for the appeal), but we were pretty confident seeing as we had got the score in the test event, so I couldn’t really see how the appeal wouldn’t go our way. Now we’re all really excited for the Games.

“It’s been a massive struggle to get there with all the training and being self-funded and winning the appeal, but I guess it just all makes it all more worth it.

“After we heard the bad news that we weren’t going to be nominated for the Olympics, it just made the group stronger and we all pulled together even more, and now we’re even better as a team.”

Faulkner and her teammates train around 45 hours a week at their Bath base, with the focus firmly on the upcoming European Championships in May and latterly the Olympics in London.

And the teenager revealed her wish that the team’s presence at the summer Games will result in the growth of the sport in Great Britain.

She said: “We know we won’t be up with the medals, but if we do the best that we can do then we can be happy.

“We hope to raise the profile of the sport and show everyone what we can do.

“Since we’re the first group from Great Britain to compete in the Olympics, we hope that rhythmic gymnastics will grow stronger and bigger in this country.”

The profile of Team GB has been raised so significantly by the appeal process that they have found themselves much in-demand by various media outlets.

Faulkner & Co have made two appearances on The One Show and this week travelled to Elstree Studios to film for the ITV hit show Dancing On Ice, although the content is top secret.

As if that wasn’t enough, the team also turned out at the premiere of the 3D blockbuster Wrath of the Titans on Thursday night, where they rubbed shoulders with the likes of Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes at the British Film Institute’s IMAX theatre in London.

“I really loved the film and we went down the red carpet which was the first time for all of us,” added Faulkner. “All the actors, the director and the producers were there and it was really amazing.”