European Championships Live Online

Since I found out the BBC will not be covering the Europeans I've been trying to find websites where I can watch it live online. On a forum there was a comment reporting that through this link on the TVSLO2 Slovenian channel you will be able to watch it live on Saturday.
There is also the possiblity on the Romanian Tv Channel TVR2 online here that the gymnastics will be on I presume for the finals on Saturday ans Sunday, but I thinkyou have to download a specific player perhaps te VLC player.
If any1 knows anywhere else where I can watch it live please could you let me know - Thanks!

European Gymnastics Championships Predictions

These are my predictions for the top 8 qualifiers for each of the finals at the upcoming Europeans (not in any order):

All Around
Ksenia Semenova, Ksenia Afanaseyeva, Ana-Maria Tamirjan, Lia Parolari, Becky Downie, Youna Dufournet, Marine Petit, Kim Bui. (Other possibles: Sandra Izbasa, Diana Chelaru, Vanessa Ferrari, Marta Pihan-Kulesza, Yana Demyanchuk).

Vault
Aagje Wallaghem, Ariella Kaeslin, Youna Dufournet,Becky Downie, Diana Chelaru, Yasmin Zimmerman, Yulia Berger, Kim Bui.
Bars
Ksenia Semonova, Beth Tweddle, Anastasia Koval, Youna Dufournet, Anja Brinker, Becky Downie, Paola Galante, Vanessa Ferrari. (Other possibles could be Lia Parolari, Lieke Wevers).
Beam
Sandra Izbasa, Ksenia Semenova, Youna Dufournet, Marta Pihan-Kulesza, Ana-Maria Tamirjan, Lieke Wevers, Vanessa Ferrari, Yana Demyanchuk. (Other possibles: Gabriela Dragoi, Ksenia Afanaseyeva, Marine Petit).
Floor
Sandra Izbasa, Beth Tweddle, Ksenia Afanaseyeva, Ana-Maria Tamirjan, Youna Dufournet, Kim Bui, Kristina Goryunova,Becky Downie. (Other possibles: Yana Demyanchuk, Naomi Ruiz)

Personally I hope Becky Downie wins the All Around because I'm British, but if not I want Sandra Izbasa to win if she does 4 pieces if not maybe Semenova. For vault I think Kaeslin will win but I hope Dufournet performs well enough for a medal in vault, bars or floor. I want Beth Tweddle to win bars but I'm not sure about her consistency and handstands! So maybe Koval or Semenova will win but there are lots of possibilities. The Beam final will probably come down to consistency so I think a Romanian will win or Semenova. As long as Izbasa hits on floor and is in better shape than at Jesolo I think she should win but there will be other contenders like Bui, Tamirjan and the Russians if she makes mistakes.

Icelandic Gymnasts at the Europeans

This week the youtube channel alliboga has put videos up of the 4 National Team members from Iceland as they prepare for the upcoming European Championships. There is not much news around about gymnasts from lesser known countries such as Iceland so I thought I would give them a mention and wish them luck at the Europeans.
The gymnasts are Thelma Rut Hermannsdóttir, Fríða Rún Einarsdóttir, Dóra Sigurbjörg Guðmundsdóttir and Sigrún Dís Tryggvadóttir. Their best pieces seem to be floor and beam where they have reasonable start values. Bars I think is their worst piece and they all do somersault vaults with good from. Below is their rotation on beam the rest of their routines can seen on alliboga's channel.

Before they were famous...

I decided to post some photos of European gymnasts before they were famous most of whom will feature at the upcoming European championships but some that are just for fun!

Ksenia Semenova age 12 at the RTB Pokal 2004 - Check out that Handstand!
























Anja Brinker age 13 RTB Pokal 2004 & German Olympian Joeline Mobius age 12 at German Youth Champs 2004
























Yvette Moshage age 9 NK Instap


Violetta Malikova age 12 & Oksana Chusovitina



















Kristina Goryunova & Viktoria Komova























Ekaterina Kramarenko

















Sanne & Lieke Wevers Linda Stampfli from Switzerland

3rd Post in the Gymnast Series - Katja Roll

Katja was born in 1995 and trains at TG Söllingen with her sister Maike who is a first year senior. In 2008 Katja placed 5th All Around and earnd a silver medal on floor and a bronze on beam at the German youth championship 2008 in the AK13 category. She doesn't have the highest difficulty but has really good form and a nice style on floor. I really like her floor routines, her new routine can be seen on the website German Gymnastics which also has lots of videos of the German seniors and juniors.
Below is her beam routine from Torneig Vic 2007 where she won silver all aroud. Apart from the fall the routine has potential to get a good score.


She has had an injury recently so this could be why she hasn't increased her difficulty. Although she has still been competing in the BundesLiga for her club where she usually does all 4 pieces.
In the 2008 Deutschland Pokal team competition, Katja was a member of the silver placed team and she had the highest score of all the 13 year olds with 47.00P. At the
International Bänfer Cup 2008 out of nearly 40 gymnasts from Germany, Portugal, Slovenia and Romania Katja earned a score of of 50.85P and a bronze medal as one of the youngest gymnasts.

Cottbus 2009 Results

I decided not to report much on Cottbus because every1 else was but full results can be found here. I wasnt really impressed with the Bars competition the scores seemed low apart from Anja Brinker's routine which looked clean and tidy and I especially liked her first combination of toe on tkatchev into pak. It was a shame about Lieke Wevers' bars routine she seemed to loose her grip at the start but she made up for it in the Beam final earning a silver medal.

I also liked Sui Lu on floor it wasn't as exciting as some of the other chinese gymnasts on floor but she has good form and her triple twist and triple spin were very nice. She doen't seem to have her full difficulty back from last year and she only competed floor so maybe she has been injured. I look forward to seeing her at chinese nationals and other international comps this year.
Lots of videos from Cottbus are on the 2008agwc channel on youtube.

Vanessa Ferrari

International Gymnast reports that Vanessa Ferrari may still compete at the European Championships even though she is not on the official roster. Coach Enrico Casella told IG on Saturday "Vanessa is [doing] very well in her recovery process and is not yet decided if she will compete or not in Milan," said Casella, who trains Ferrari in nearby Brixia. "We'll make a decision at the last minute, and it may be possible to make a big surprise to everyone."
This year Ferrari has competed Vault, Bars and Beam in Serie A for her club Brixia.
There is also a new book called "Polvere di Magnesio" ("Chalk") available that features stories from lots of Italy's famous gymnasts and their personal struggles, more information here.

Romanian Gymnastics Training Documentary

To go with my earlier post I found this Documentary about Onesti on a message board. The first part I don't really understand but it has Octavian Belu and Andreea Raducan being interviewed, but the later parts have interviews with Larisa Iordache and Diana Bulimar who seems very cute to me! There is also training clips with the National Junior Team and younger girls. Translations of any of the video would be greatly appreciated.

British Gymnastics has also published the event finals results from this weekends friendly they are available here.

Summary
Vault
1. Larisa Iordache Romania 13.900
2. Nicole Hibbert Great Britain 13.875
3. Jocelyn Hunt Great Britain 13.850

Bars
1. Nicole Hibbert Great Britain 13.550
2. Danusia Francis Great Britain 13.100
3. Diana Bulimar Romania 13.050

Beam
1. Danusia Francis Great Britain 14.300
2. Larisa Iordache Romania 13.500
3. Diana Bulimar Romania 13.200

Floor
1. Diana Bulimar Romania 14.200
1. Larisa Iordache Romania 14.200
3. Danusia Francis Great Britain 13.650

GBR Vs ROM Friendly

It seems that the friendly between the juniors was not cancelled like IG reported. It took place this weekend in Northern Ireland. The results were:
Team
1. Great Britain 160.250
2. Romania 157.400
All Around
1. Danusia Francis GBR 54.350
2. Diana Bulimar ROM 53.500
3. Nicole Hibbert GBR 53.300
4. Larisa Iordache ROM 53.000
5. Lizzie Beddoe GBR 51.150
6. Jessica Hogg GBR 51.150
7. Madalina Neagu ROM 50.900
8. Jocelyn Hunt GBR 50.000
9. Ruby Straw GBR 49.200
10. Ana Maria Baicu ROM 33.550
11. Adina Bordeianu ROM 22.400
This looks good for the British team although I know the Romania team were a lot younger and more inexperienced. I really like the Romanian juniors Diana, Larisa and Madalina. I love Diana and Larisa's floor routines I just hope Larisa has improved her bars and Diana needs to get more stable on beam.

2nd Post in the Gymnast Series

ROXANA POPA

She was born in 1997 in Constanta, Romania where she trained until she was 9 years old and then she moved to Spain where she now trains in Madrid at CGA Pozuelo and is one of their most promising gymnasts.
She competes in the alevin category where she was awarded the highest score at the Third Tournament of the Federation of Gymnastics Madrid - 50.60 and won gold on all 4 apparatus. Her coach Silvia García believes there is a real opportunities to reach the national team of Spain. Roxana was granted Spanish Citizenship by the Government of Spain in June 2008 and has decided to compete for them rather than Romania.
Last year a programme was made about her which is available here. It is in Spanish but has interesting features including training videos and competition routines as well as interviews with various people including Jesus Carballo the Spanish National Coach. At the end of the video it shows her winning 4 Golds at the Individual National Championships.
Below from youtube is a video of her routines at the National Championships I don't think she competed full difficulty as I've seen her compete harder skils but I still like her floor and she gets into a nice rhythm on beam.

First Post in the Gymnast Series

VENUS AND ANGEL ROMAEO

The sisters train at Cardiff Central in Wales under coach Tracey Skirton.


Venus will be 13 this year and has already has a successful gymnastics career being British Espoir Champion on Vault at age 12 and British Schools Champion 2008. She currently has 28 golds to her name!




Angel will be 12 this year and makes her British Championship debut in the Espoir division. She was British National Champion at age 10 and 11 and has been even more successful than her sister with 40 gold medals!




This year they will compete against each other at the British Championships so it will be interesting to see who comes out on top. Last year in the run up to the Olympic Games they were both featured in a BBC programme called Olympic Dreams focusing on Britains medals hopes for 2012. The 2 segments below features their whole family - very dedicated or a little obsessive what do you think?

The rest of the programme can be seen on youtube and there is also a video of them working legs at age 6 and 5 Check it out!

European Gymnasts Series

I've decided to start a series of posts featuring relatively unknown junior gymnasts and new senior gymnasts from europe especially those from countries who don't get a lot of recognition but work just as hard as everyone else. If any1 has any gymnasts who they think should be included let me know and I will try my best to get information on them.

Spanish Championships

This weekend in Madrid there is the Spanish Championships where the women compete for their regions. Competitors include Mercedes Alcaide, Anna Serra, Vanesa Sánchez, Lenika de Simone and Naomi Ruiz. Below is a video of Lenika training this week at the High Performance Centre in Madrid. I think she looks well prepared so hopefully she will do herself justice this weekend.

Gymnastics Friendly GBR vs ROM March 21 Cancelled

This weekend in Northern Ireland there was meant to be is a gymnastics friendly between the Juniors of Great Britain and Romania. However International Gymnast reports here that it has been cancelled because Romania do not have a team to bring. This is a real shame I hope this is just a short term thing perhaps with injuries and Romania's Juniors are back soon. Anyone else have any more information?

Cottbus 2009

The tournament of masters in Cottbus will take place on 20-22 March. The entries for the Women's Competition only includes 32 participants with Romania, Russia, Great Briatain and France among others not sending anyone. Particpants of interest include Hu Yuhong and Sui Lu of China. Sui Lu has a difficult beam routine including a barani, front pike and double pike dismount and a very nice floor routine with a back 2 and 1/2 twist into front layout with full twist.


Representing Brazil will be Bruna Leal and Ethiene Franco and for Belgium Jolien Eggermont and Aagje Vanwalleghem. Jolien has a very expressive floor routine with good tumbling.

The Netherlands team will be Wyomi Masela and Lieke Wevers. Lieke is Sanne Wevers twin sister and has strong routines on bars and beam and an elegant floor routine. Like her sister she has difficult turns on beam. This is her bars routine from the recent Dutch Euro Trials even though she fell she has potential to score highly and I hope she gets into the final this weekend.


UPDATE: Lieke Wevers has been selected to the Netherlands Team for the Europeans in April along with Wyomi Masela, Marya Kroonen and Marrit Ewald.

Jesolo 2009 Results

Im not going into detail about the results as many blogs have already reported them and all results can be found here
http://www.federginnastica.it/immagini/archivio/articoli/foto_articolo_4468.pdf
http://www.federginnastica.it/immagini/archivio/articoli/foto_articolo_4470.pdf
Instead I thought I would give some information on the lesser known gymnasts from Great Britain that competed. One of my favourite juniors is Lizzie Beddoe I have watched her compete since her first grades competitions when she was nine and I have always loved her style and form. Now she is finally age eligible for International Junior Competitons and made her debut for Great Britain. She was Nationl champion at age 9,10,11 and 13 years old and is coached by Tracey Skirton and is a member of the Welsh Squad. This is her bars routine from Jesolo

She doesnt yet have high difficulty but I love te way she performs especially on floor. This is her floor routine when she was 11. I will post her floor from jesolo when it appears on youtube.

Italian Serie A 2009

The second serie A took place on the 3rd March. The results were:
1. Brixia Brescia 248.650
2. Ginn. Lissonese 241.150
3. Gal Gym Team Lixonum 228.250
Vanessa Ferrari competed for her club Brixia and there are a few videos of her bars and beam routines from the first Serie A in February. Vanessa is still recovering from injury and is still not in full training. Hopefully she will improve her routines before the Europeans. She was only supposed to compete bars but decided to try beam and vault. The full article from the 1st Serie A with Vanessa's comments in Italian is available here:
http://www.federginnastica.it/html/agenzia/vis_articolo.php?Id=4310



Aagje Vanwalleghem from Belgium also competes in Serie A for Ginnastica Pavese:

Brazilian and Romanian teams for jesolo 2009

The Brazilian team will be represented by Seniors: Ana Claudia Silva, Ethiene Franco, Bruna Leal, Khiuani Dias, Daniele Hypólito, Priscila Cobello and Juniors: Anna Caroline Cardoso, Nicolle Beltrame, Janaina Silva, Nadhine Ourives, Leticia da Costa . I dont know much about the juniors but there are a few videos around.
The best junior is Janaina Silva who has a very powerful 1 nad 1/2 yurchenko and double arabian on floor.



Nicolle Beltrame seems to have very good form but not the highest difficulty.




Out of the seniors Ive always liked Ana laudia Silva but new senior Bruna Leal is a good allrounder and recently placed 9th at the massilia cup.

The Romanians will be represented by Seniors: Sandra Izbasa, Anamaria Tamirjan, Diana Chelaru, Daniela Druncea, Gabriela Dragoi and Juniors: Amelia Racea, Raluca Haidu, Diana Trenca. Anamaria Tamirjan has been injured since the Olympics so it will be interesting to see her new routines. Chelaru is a first year senior who doesnt have high difficulty but Nicolae Forminte has said he expects good things from her and Amelia Racea has just competed at the American Cup and needs to improve her bars and form but has huge potential.

GB Team for Jesolo 2009

British Gymnastics has announced the team. Junior Gymnasts: Danusia Francis, Nicole Hibbert, Jennifer Pinches, Niamh Rippin, Jocelyn Hunt and Ruby Straw. Senior Gymnasts: Rebecca Wing, Hannah Whelan, Rebecca Downie, Marissa King, Laura Jones and Beth Tweddle.
I'm not sure what events Beth will be competing but I will try to find out. The team will be using this competition as preparation for the European Championships in April.
Danusia recently had success at the AYOF with 1 silver and a bronze. This is her best apparatus: Beam score 14.575.

I also hope that Becky Downie is in better shape than what she looked like at the American Cup as I think she could do really well for GB this cycle.

Jesolo 2009

This year it is on March 14 and it's going to include Senior and Junior teams from Italy, Great Britain, Brazil, Romania and China. There will be 4 Junior and 4 Senior gymnasts in each team. The Senior Italian Team has already been named as Vanessa Ferrari, Lia Parolari, Emily Armi, Serena Licchetta, Paola Galante and Elisabetta Preziosa. I love Paola's style and flexibility. I think she will be a great addition to the senior team.

I also like Serena Licchetta's original floor routine, although the difficulty needs to be increased.

Welcome

This blog will try and cover as much European Gymnastics news as possible especially stuff that is not made available on other blogs and websites.