Year in review part 3: September – December

The third and final part of 2020 in review is here!

September

• Aerobics couple Benjamin Garavel and Christina Ioannidou announce they are expecting their second baby.
• Wedding bells in gymnastics land! Congratulations to Austria’s Lisa Ecker and Lukas Kranzlmüller!
• Belgium’s Jimmy Verbaeys, Jonathan Vrolix and Daan Kenis retire from the national team.
• European Gymnastics organises a webinar titled ‘Towards a positive gym culture’ to talk about the recent abuse cases in gymnastics, how to deal with this and to ensure the wellbeing of the athletes.
• British star Louis Smith announces he and girlfriend Charlie Bruce are expecting their first baby, a girl.
• Irina Viner-Usmanova’s Gymnastics Palace in Luzhniki won a prestigious award in the field of development and architecture in the ‘Best sports and cultural object’ category. The Moscow Gymnastics Palace overtook the Gardia Arts Center in Beijing, China, the Congress Center in Metz, France, and the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, UK.
• 2004 Olympic vault Champion Monica Rosu (ROU) is expecting her first baby
• Olympic Champion Simona Amanar is elected to the Executive Committee of the Romanian Olympic Committee.

 

October

• The Executive Committee gives the green light for the Men’s and Women’s Artistic Europeans. The events will be held Mersin (TUR).
• 2019 rings World Champion Ibrahim Colak (TUR) gets engaged.
• Caterina Barloggio (SUI) retires.
• Trampoline stars Uladzislau Hancharou and Hanna Hancharova (BLR) welcome their first kids, twin girls, into this world.

 

November

• Congratulations to Anna Bessonova (UKR) and Dmitry Momot on the birth of their son.
• Greece’s Ioanna Xoulogi welcomes her first child, a boy.
• Famed Russian coach Aleksandr Kiryashov passes away.
• Russia’s Maria Paseka gets married.
• Copenhagen (DEN) withdraws as the host of the TeamGym Europeans, originally planned for October 2020, then postponed to April 2021. A call for a new host is open.
• Neviana Vladinova retires due to a neck injury and becomes second Vice-President of the Bulgarian Rhythmic Gymnastics Federation.
• Only at the end of November can we welcome gymnasts to our first competition of the year: the Rhythmic Europeans in Kyiv (UKR) where Linoy Ashram (ISR) beats Alina Harnasko and Anastasia Salos (BLR) for the all-around gold. Israel wins the group all-around title, with Ukraine claiming victory with 5 balls and Turkey surprising themselves with the 3 + 2 gold. In junior competition, Dina Agisheva (BLR) won rope, Polina Karika (UKR) ball, Daria Atamanov (ISR) clubs and Stliana Nikolova (BUL) ribbon.

 

December

• Salome Pazhave is elected as Vice-President of the Georgian Gymnastics Federation. She stays active as a competitive gymnast as well.
• Artur Dalaloyan announces the pregnancy of his girlfriend.
• Greek power couple Eleftherios Petrounias and Vasiliki Millousi welcome a second daughter into the world.
• At the European Championships in Men’s Artistic Gymnastics in the Turkish city of Mersin, Ukraine won both the junior and senior team gold. Junior Ilia Kovtun was the most decorated gymnast while Robert Tvorogal (LTU), Matvei Petrov (ALB) and Ibrahim Colak (TUR) won the first European titles for their respective countries. Artem Dolgopyat (ISR) claimed the gold on floor, Igor Radivilov (UKR) vaulted to gold and Ferhat Arican (TUR) was the best on parallel bars.
• Epke Zonderland (NED) announces the pregnancy of his wife.
• World Champion Hana Sitnianská-Mičechová (CZE) died at the age of 74 after a long and serious illness.
• What better way to conclude the year, then just before Christmas, with the Women’s Artistic Gymnastics Europeans! Romanian talent Ana Barbosu absolutely dominated the junior competition, winning all 6 available gold medals. Larisa Iordache (ROU) and Zsofia Kovacs (HUN) divide the individual senior titles while Ukraine scored its first ever team title.

Wishing everyone Happy Holidays and a fantastic New Year!