Artistic Gymnastics News! The Artistic Gymnastics Newsletter N° 13 - August 2022

Dear friends of Artistic Gymnastics!

Such a busy and exciting summer of sports we are witnessing! And the best is yet to come …

We started with 2 successful training camps, first the men in Thessaloniki (GRE), followed by the women in Tirrenia (ITA). Our annual meeting with talented gymnasts and coaches from all over Europe continues to live up to its reputation thanks to the many top-level experts we manage to engage every year. It’s a pleasure for us to see all these smiling faces improving their skills in a professional yet friendly training environment.

The last week of July, we finally managed to hold the European Youth Olympic Festival in Banska Bystrica (SVK)! Postponed from 2021, this fantastic event offers the opportunity to junior gymnasts in both Men’s and Women’s Artistic Gymnastics to get a taste of competing at the highest level in a multi-sports setting. It also allows us to experiment with formats so we added an exciting Mixed Pairs finals instead of the traditional all-around finals. We hope you enjoyed it! The feedback we received from gymnasts and coaches definitely was positive. Several new names and faces emerged as the ‘ones to watch’!

Next week, years of preparation will come together as we meet in Munich for our masterpiece of the year, the European Championships! Hosted as part of a multi-sports event combining the continental Championships for 9 sports, the aim is to boost gymnastics’ TV presence. Our gymnasts deserve to be in the spotlight!

Read all about it below …

From Thursday onwards, all eyes will be on Munich! Part of the multi-sport European Championships, the women will compete from 11 to 14 August, while the men take centerstage from 18 to 21 August. The event will feature both juniors and seniors. They will battle for continental glory in team, all-around and on each apparatus. Want to know more? All information is published on our website!

In Women’s Artistic Gymnastics, we proudly welcome 147 senior and 112 junior gymnasts from 37 countries, among them reigning European Champion on floor and 2021 European Gymnast of the Year Jessica Gadirova and her twin sister Jennifer (GBR), 2020 European Champion on vault and bars Zsofia Kovacs (HUN), Germany’s star team featuring Kim Bui, Eli Seitz, Pauline Schaefer-Betz, Sarah Voss and Emma Malewski, France’s Marine Boyer, Italy’s trusted team of Alice and Asia D’Amato, Giorgia Villa and Martina Maggio, Portugal’s Filipa Martins and Slovenia’s vaulting duo Teja Belak, making her comeback after becoming a mum, and Tjasa Kysselef. Romania’s Ana Barbosu, who dominated the 2020 junior Europeans will make her senior European debut.

In the men’s competition, 153 senior and 135 junior gymnasts will represent 38 National Federations! The field includes stars like reigning Olympic Champion on floor Artem Dolgopyat (ISR), Vice-Olympic Champion on floor Rayderley Zapata (ESP), double European Champion on parallel bars and 2021 European Gymnast of the Year Ferhat Arican (TUR), 2019 World Champion on parallel bars Joe Fraser (GBR), Greek Lord of the Rings Eleftherios Petrounias, Irish star Rhys McClenaghan, reigning World Champion on floor Nicola Bartolini (ITA), recently crowned Mediterranean Games all-around Champion Adem Asil (TUR), Ukraine’s rising star Ilia Kovtun alongside veteran teammate Igor Radivilov, 2020 European Champion on pommel horse Matvei Petrov (ALB), Croatia’s master of the high bar Tin Srbic while the host nation Germany counts the Hero de Janeiro Andreas Toba, Lukas Dauser, Nils Dunkel, Glenn Trebing and Philipp Herder in its ranks.

Join us in Munich for a vibrant event, get your tickets NOW and enjoy a 33% discount by applying the special discount code ‘GYM2022’!

Tickets - European Championships Munich 2022

The Slovakian town of Banska Bystrica came alive during the last week of July! 10 sports are included in the European Youth Olympic Festival, gathering young athletes from all over Europe to get a taste of their first major international multi-sports event. An valuable experience they will cherish for the rest of their lives!

Germany’s Helen Kevric emerged as the big winner in gymnastics, returning home with 2 gold (all-around, vault) and 4 silver medals (team, mixed pairs, bars and floor) while Amalia Puflea lead Romania to their first team title since 2011, followed by silver in the all-around and victory on both beam and floor. Radomyr Stelmakh continued Ukraine’s tradition of excellent execution combined with difficult routines to claim the all-around crown. He added silver on floor and pommel horse and bronze on parallel bars and in the mixed pairs final with teammate Anna Lashchevska.

The Mixed Pairs final, a exciting competition format debuted at this event, combined a female and a male gymnast from the same nation. 16 pairs participated in the first rounds, with 4 pairs advancing to the semi-finals. There, the top 2 pairs performed against each other for the gold medal, while pairs 3 and 4 fought for the bronze. These face-offs add both drama and tons of fun for the spectators! Italians Riccardo Villa and Arianna Grillo beat Germany’s Helen Kevric and Jukka Nissinen for the first ever Mixed Pairs title while Radomyr Stelmakh and Anna Lashchevska earned the bronze for Ukraine.

Enjoyed this? See you in Maribor (SLO) from 23 to 29 July 2023!

On another note, we are honoured to have our Technical Committee member James May, the Superior Jury at this event, receive the Fair Play award from the Slovakian Olympic Committee and the EYOF Local Organising Committee ‘For spreading the Ideals and Value of Fair Play’ after he notified a coach of a discrepancy in D score so that the correct score could be obtained for the gymnast. Congratulations James!

From 27 June till 6 July, we welcomed 43 participants to Thessaloniki (GRE) from 13 countries to our annual Men’s Artistic training camp. 21 gymnasts and 22 coaches came together to learn from each other, exchange knowledge and enhance their skill set. The gymnasts worked hard and made friends for life.

From the bottom of our hearts, we thank our fantastic experts Rossana Bonzi (ITA), Alexandros Ioakeimidis (GRE), Igor Kriajimski (CRO), Andrei Popov (GBR), Gennadiy Sartinskiy (UKR) and Anatoli Vonrontzov (FRA). Of course this camp wouldn’t be possible within all the hard work of our Technical Committee members Diego Lazzarich (ITA), Mario Vukoja (CRO) and Nikos Provias (GRE), and the team in Greece Avraam Sapranidis, Vasileios Tsolakidis and Anestis Komkotos.

The annual training camp in Women’s Artistic Gymnastics moved back to Tirrenia this year. From 1 to 11 July, 27 gymnasts and 31 coaches from 17 countries enjoyed the revamped facilities in the Italian coastal village. Coaches and gymnasts from Kosovo, Latvia and Lithuania were invited to help them to develop this discipline. Dividing the day in physical preparation and practical lectures, we focused on basics and on developing difficulty elements with the methodological knowledge of the experts. An important part of this camp is of course the leisure time in which the gymnasts can bond, enjoy the beach and even explore Italian top sights like Pisa and Florence!

A big thank you to our experts: Donatella Sacchi (ITA), Zoltan Jordanov (HUN), Liliana Cosma (ROU), Shiri Shai Katz (ISR), Nicolae Forminte (ROU), Richard Crnjac (SLO) and Nick Ruddock (GBR) who hosted online lectures. From our side, Technical Committee members Orna Shai (ISR) and Hana Liskarova (CZE) led the camp, assisted by the local team of Bane Trickovic and Nadia Brivio.

After the success of our past webinars, we have one more scheduled for you this year!

On Sunday 18 September 2022, British expert Nick Ruddock will host a webinar about uneven bars, from 5pm to 6.30pm CET.

Don’t miss your chance, registration is open until midnight CET on 15 September 2022!

WAG Webinar "Uneven Bars" (google.com)

For all WAG coaches, we’re organising a Coaches’ Course in the German city Frankfurt am Main in cooperation with the German Gymnastics Federation. This will take place from 25 to 27 November 2022 and will be lead by experts Patrick Kiens and Hila Harel.

Registration ends tomorrow 6 August!!!!

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See you soon in Munich!

Anca Grigoras                                                                          Tom Thingvold

WTC President                                                                         MTC President