Beauty, Art and Sport! The Rhythmic Gymnastics Newsletter N° 2 2015

Dear Friends,

Before the start of this year’s beautiful summer, the first ever European Games took place in Baku. These Games were very well organised and gave all UEG disciplines an excellent image.

I, together with my Technical Committee, want to give our sincere thanks and a big congratulations to the staff of the UEG, for their perfect work and fantastic effort and coordination between the Organising Committee and the various Technical Committees. It was obvious that everybody gave it their all and worked very hard to deliver these 1^st European Games to a high-level standard.

As hot and fabulous as the summer was, the Rhythmic Gymnasts did not stop working hard! August was full of competitions, especially World Cups -three in a row!- giving the gymnasts the chance to perfect their routines, gather competition rhythm and see where they stand before the important World Championships in Stuttgart.

These World Championships belong to the past now and brought big success for the European gymnasts. Our warm congratulations to all gymnasts and coaches for this great performance of our sport.

BAKU EUROPEAN GAMES

Overall, the alternation between 2 different gymnastics disciplines was a very good experience, both for gymnasts and spectators. The scales were in balance with regards to the exchange of impressions and ideas. The combination of Rhythmic with Acrobatic Gymnastics worked magic with the crowd and TV audience. It is the opinion of the TC however that this format will not work so well for a European Championships.

All in all these Games were a fantastic promotion for Rhythmic Gymnastics, as the world’s best gymnasts and groups were present and they performed the highest possible level of routines.

 

COACHES’ COURSE

In November our coaches’ course in Marbella (ESP) will be held. We are pleased to welcome 40 participants from 14 national federations. Several well-known and excellent experts will teach us all something more about dance-techniques, psychology, composition and choreography, physical preparation and recuperation and also about planning. We are sure that everybody will enjoy these lectures and will use it in the own country to continue the development of the European RG.

The Russian team won all but 1 title at the World Championships held in Stuttgart at the beginning of September. Led by the gorgeous Yana Kudryavtseva who won all gold medals she challenged for, Russia dominated with Margarita Mamun taking gold with hoop, taking team gold and the Russian group winning the all-around title and gold with 3 pairs of clubs and 2 hoops. On the last day of competition the Italian group managed to stop a Russian sweep when they won gold with 5 ribbons. European gymnasts nearly accomplished a sweep of all medals, but this was stopped –also on the last day- by the Japanese group who clinched bronze with 5 ribbons, the only medal won by non-Europeans.

2016 is going to be a big year for Rhythmic Gymnastics. First up will be the test event in Rio de Janeiro where another 6 individual and 3 group tickets for the Olympic Games will be fought for. In June we head to Holon in Israel for our European Championships. This will be the last major event before the Olympic Games so very important for our gymnasts to test their routines and their consistency. For our annual training camp we visit Obertraun in Austria.

Most importantly, we cross our fingers for the European Gymnasts at the Rio Olympics and we will continue to work for the future of our beautiful sport, finding new ideas for the gymnastics of tomorrow and the day after tomorrow!

 

With my best regards

Heide Bruneder 

TC-RG President