Preview: The Olympic competitions in artistic gymnastics:        > Preview, Women

Men: Clear Favourite for the team gold is China....
...but nonetheless there will be a hard battle for the medals. However, for many teams it is difficult at the moment to present a complete team which will be fit for Athens. Even well-established gymnastics nations like Russia and Ukraine don't have the same amount of gymnasts anymore like in the past. Nemov won't be there and after the tragic car accident of Ukraine's all-around star Alexander Beresh they had to reactivate Alexander Svetlichny. Therefore it will only be a decision on the day in Athens and it will depend on the strategic work of the coaches which gymnasts they present for the team result. 


Olympic Champion 2000 China
Another team gold for China at the Pre-Olympic WCh's 2003
.. what can be reached by European Champion Romania?

According to the results of the last World and European Championships the USA and Romania can have high hopes for a medal, but who knows... After the sad accident of the German gymnast Ronny Ziesmer it can only be wished to the German team that they will be able to present a good competition.

PAST EVENTS: TEAM, men < Sydney 2000 < WM Anaheim 2003 < EM Ljubljana 2004
 
All-around men - the crown of the Olympics ! Everything is possible here...!
Certainly the current all-around World Champion from Anaheim 2003, Paul Hamm, will try everything to fulfill his Olympic dream. But it is hard to speculate before such an important competition, remembering for example the World Championships in Ghent 2001 where Hamm and Townsend from the USA and Ivan Ivankov from Belarus were on the way to the victory and in the end 15-year old Feng, Jing from China went ahead of them. 
Then in 2003 Yang, Wei from China (photo, left), who had won already the Silver medal in Sydney 2000, again won the Silver medal and with Hiroyuki Tomita from Japan a second Asian gymnast was on the winner's podium at this event.

What can be reached by the Europeans, lead by the European Champion from Ljubljana Marian Dragulescu or also Vice Champion Rafael Martinez from Spain who left a good impression at the recent European Championships?

Of couse a lot will depend on who will actually present a full all-around in the team competition and therefore can qualify for the all-around final.

PAST EVENTS: ALL-AROUND, Men < Sydney 2000 < WM Anaheim 2003 < EM Ljubljana 2004
 
MEN: Apparatus finals - the moment for the specialists...?
It is difficult to predict these events as there have been many artists on the different apparatus during the last four years.
The question is if any of the established gymnasts will once again manage to reach the top, like super-star Marius Urzica with his perfect work on pommel horse. However, during recent times he has not been as unbeatable as before, like could be seen in Anaheim where he reached only the 5th rank.... 
On floor the winner at the last World Championships was Paul Hamm in front of Jordan Jovchev from Bulgaria and Canada's Kylie Shewfeldt.

Urzica...
... the "Hulk of Rhodos", Dimosthenis Tampakos (GRE)

Will Jovchev manage it once again to take the lead on rings or will it be the great moment... in front of a home crowd... for Dimostenis Tampakos  who shared the last World Championship title with him. Also the two bronze medallists from Anaheim 2003, the Italians Morandi and Coppolino, will have their chances for a medal...!

Who can cope best with the PEGASES?

These have been Li, Xiaopeng in front of the powerful Romanian Marian Dragulescu (photo, left) and Shewfeldt at the last World Championships...!The Chinese then also coped best with the apparatus in the next following final, the bars, together with his team mate Huang, Xu.

A prediction on high bar is nearly impossible considering the large amount of very good gymnasts on this apparatus, even if Nemov won't be there. In addition to the rings this will be the second big chance for the hosts, this time with Vlasios Maras...!

... and the youngest Olympian is: Fabian Hambuechen  >> 
from Germany!

PAST EVENTS: APPARATUS, Men < Sydney 2000 < WM Anaheim 2003 < EM Ljubljana 2004

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