Berliner await Europeans

Another trailer for the European Championships was published yesterday featuring recreational gymnasts from Berlin through the ages. The Championships will begin in 20 days on 4th of April. As at the 2007 World Championships in Stuttgart there will be a ‘medal plaza‘ where the gymnasts receive their medals in the evening. Public viewing, concerts and shows will also be offered at the medal plaza at the Potsdamer Platz (Sony Center) from Friday 8th to Sunday 10th.

Current title holders are Ksenia Semenova and Fabian Hambüchen (AA / 2009), Ekaterina Kurbatova (VT), Beth Tweddle (UB, FX), Amelia Racea (BB), Matthias Fahrig (FX), Daniel Keatings (PH), Matteo Morandi (SR), Tomi Tuuha (VT), Yann Cucherat (PB) and Vlasios Maras (HB).

official website – English / German

Happy 2nd Birthday, GymNiceTic! + Best of

2 years – 460 (including this one 461) posts – 457 comments

Last year, I posted the three and my three top posts. This time I’ll go a little further and share … the five and my five top posts of all time with you!

Of course, I also want to thank all the readers who leave comments or, well, just read all the stuff about gymnastics. Thanks to all the other bloggers out there who share their thoughts, who link to my blog and to whose’s blogs I can link!

The Top Posts (last year)

Gymnastics films

More leotards, leotards, leotards

Chuso comes back in 2010

Gymnastics blogs

Elite Gymnast = Movie Star (3)

My Top Posts

The Gymnastics McLaughlin Group – It’s always fun to think of a new header.

Five Wishes for 2011 – I’m still hoping at least one of them comes true.

These gymnasts know how to dance! – A fantastic acro routine.

New Gymnastics Blogs – The more the better.

Elite Gymnast = Movie Star (4) – The latest issue.

My exciting way to celebrate is to change the color of the header. The first year it was purple, the second year it has been blue and now it will be red/orange.

Cottbus World Cup 2011 – Routines

Five routines worth to watch from the Cottbus World Cup last weekend: Oksana Chusovitina on vault, Elisabeth Seitz on bars, Natsumi Sasada on beam, Sophia Serseri and Celine van Gerner on floor. They all have something special.

Oksana Chusovitina who turns 36 this year won the vault final again. She participated in the Tournament of Masters 14 times and won 12 times! From now on she plans to train on beam and floor again in order to support the German team.

Click play or watch her first VT (handspring on front full off) on YouTube:

Click play or watch her second VT (Tsukahara 1.5) on YouTube:

Elisabeth Seitz placed 2nd on bars. I just don’t get tired to watch the Def - it’s an amazing element.

Click play or watch her UB on YouTube:

Natsumi Sasada’s mount on the balance beam is another element I can watch over and over again. She placed fourth in a very strong field.

Click play or watch her BB on YouTube:

Sophia Serseri‘s dance, choreography and her smile didn’t win her a medal on floor, but are nevertheless worth to watch. She won’t be at Europeans next month.

Click play or watch her FX on YouTube:

Another routine I really liked to watch is Celine van Gerner‘s who placed fourth. She chose the perfect music and really performs her routine, in contrast to the winner Yao Jinnan, for example. Rick is absolutely right – the Chinese gymnasts need more personality.

Click play or watch Gerner’s FX on YouTube:

Angel Romaeo knows how to dance!

Prior to the meet, I was searching for a new video of Angel or Venus Romaeo, the two young British gymnasts, who attended the Gymnix International Cup last weekend in Montreal. They first came under my radar when BBC featured Venus in “Olympic Dreams“. Unfortunately I couldn’t find anything new, but I came along a very special floor routine done by Angel in 2010. Angel did the same routine at Gymnix last weekend, it’s already posted on GymnasticsCoaching. But nevertheless, it’s still worth to watch the routine below. Her fantastic ability to dance such a choreography at this age (born 1997) looks really promising. It’ll be an even greater pleasure to watch her on floor when she’s grown up. And watch these landings!

Click play or watch Angel’s FX on YouTube:

Russian Men’s Team for Europeans

Maxim Devyatovksy

IG informed us not only about the women’s but also about the men’s team Europeans. These male gymnasts will compete in Berlin. Devyatovsky will definitely be a contender for the AA gold medal.

• Anton Golotsutskov
• Maxim Devyatovsky
• Nikita Ignatyev
• Alexander Balandin
• Emin Garibov
• Denis Ablyazin

Russian Women’s Team for Europeans

Russian Women’s Team for Europeans

Aliya Mustafina

IG just informed us Viktoria Komova will be out of the European Championships in Berlin in order to rest her ankle. But they also wrote who will be on the team.

• Aliya Mustafina
• Anna Dementyeva
• Tatiana Nabiyeva
• Yulia Belokobylskaya

Russian Men’s Team for Europeans

Cottbus World Cup 2011 – Results

successful German women - coach Polyakova, Chusovitina, Bui, Seitz, Jarosch

WOMEN

Vault

Uneven Bars

Balance Beam

Floor

MEN

Floor

Pommel Horse

Rings

Vault

Parallel Bars

High Bar

all results on the official website / more informations

French Men’s Team for Europeans

Cyril Tommasone

Following male gymnasts will compete for France at the European Championships in Berlin next month.

• Samir Ait Said, 21
• Pierre-Yves Beny, 28
• Thomas Bouhail, 24
• Yann Cucherat, 31
• Danny Pinheiro-Rodrigues, 25
• Cyril Tommasone, 23
• Alternate – Hamilton Sabot, 23

ffgym.com

Women’s Team for Europeans

French Women’s Team for Europeans

Youna Dufournet

The French Gymnastics Federation named the women’s team for the European Championships in Berlin next month. They selected a very young team.

• Marine Brevet, 16
• Mira Boumejmajen, 15
• Clara Dellavedova, 16
• Youna Dufournet, 17
• Alternate – Marine Petit, 18

ffgym.com

Men’s Team for Europeans

Oksana Chusovitina – HNI 2011 videos

Finally, some videos of Oksana Chusovitina competing at the Houston National Invitational last weekend were uploaded on YouTube. She performed on floor a double back piked, handspring + front full + front piked and a double back (level 10 scoring) with a new music and choreography.

Click play or watch her FX (9.500) on YouTube:

On beam she earned a ‘perfect 10′ despite some balance checks. Her routine includes a front tuck mount, front piked, switch + layout step-out, front tuck + back tuck and a double back dismount.

Click play or watch her BB (10.000) on YouTube:

On vault, Chusovitina went for a front handspring on layout (or piked?) somersault with half twist off.

Click play or watch her VT (9.500) on YouTube:

Chusovitina will also compete at the Challenger Cup in Cottbus. According to the German Gymnastics Federation only on vault, according to the host organization on vault, beam and floor. We’ll see…