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The
competition started with a mild confusion even before the gymnasts
marched in as the announcer introduced the wrong judges – the announcer
had the list from qualifications and some judges looked very puzzled when
they were announced on the wrong event.
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The
Italian delegation had substituted Iliaria
Colombo, who has an injured calf muscle, with Monica
Bergamelli (photo).
Colombo is to be rested for Sunday’s finals.
The
first rotation began with Svetlana Khorkina
landing her RO-1/2 on 1 ½ twisting tuck off on her knees and taking a big
lunge forward on her 1 ½ twisting Yurchenko. Natalia
Ziganshina then also took a very low landing on her double
twisting Yurchenko followed by a big hop forwards. She bounced back on her
second attempt. Beginning on her best event, bars, Britain’s Beth
Tweddle
was great for a
9,100 to set her up nicely for the competition. |
Alyona
Kvasha (UKR) took a big step on her handspring front layout and
added a full twist for the second one, also with a big lunge.
Verona van de Leur nailed both
her double twisting Yurchenko and the RO- full-twisting ff on back layout
off for the highest vaulting score of the first rotation. Team mate Suzanne
Harmes was equally confident in her two vaults. Yevgenia
Kuznetsova put her hands down on her double layout dismount off
bars. In the final routine of the first rotation, Belarussian Yulia
Tarasenka took the lead with a great bars set that featured
fantastic stalder work (10 SV). Oana Petrovschi
was ninth after rotation one with a solid but not brilliant bars set.
Natalia
Ziganshina climbed back up the ranks in the second rotation
with an excellent bars set highlighted by a Shushunova. Alyona
Kvasha muscled her way through her bars set (Jaeger; 2 front ½
out dismount) but couldn’t match Ziganschina’s class. Elena
Gomez showed a beam set packed with difficulty but had to take
a step to the side on her 2 ½ twist dismount. Over on bars, van
de Leur scored a 9,537 for her strong set that started from a
ten and ended with a stuck double-double. Oana
Petrovschi demonstrated best Romanian tradition with a solid
beam set that included a nice combination of one armed ff to ff. First
round leader Yulia Tarasenka wobbled
on her full-twisting tuck jump and sat down her double front dismount on
beam. Suzanne Harmes caught her Jaeger
well and then got stuck in handstand on a full-twisting front giant but pulled off her double front dismount just the
same. Beth Tweddle had a few wobbles
on beam but over on floor Rebecca Owen
put in a strong routine nicely choreographed to a tango for a 9.062. Svetlana
Khorkina went
into the lead with another great set on bars including alle her trademark
skills.
In
the third rotation, Kvasha got off
to a shaky start on beam with a few wobbles and her full twisting tuck
jump stopped after three quarters. Yevgenia
Kuznetsova competed a solid floor routine which was very well
received by the crowd, as was Elena Gomez
original dance and clean tumbling. Oana
Petrovschi went sideways on her opening tumble of 2 ½ twist
punch front full and finished with a triple twist. Van
de Leur showed a row of twisting combinations full-twisting
tuck jump to full-twisting ff and a 2 ½ twist dismount. Maria
Teresa Gargano also stayed on beam with a nice combination of
front aerial – ff-layout. Harmes
wobbled on her ff layout sequence but brought her triple twist all the way
around. A few wobbles on beam – new combination of full-twisting ff to
full-twisting ff to straddle - didn’t keep Khorkina
from keeping the lead after this rotation. Young team mate Ziganshina
was going really well until she landed her standing Arabian on one foot
and slipped off.
Verona
van de Leur got off to a flying start in the final round with a
super floor routine with every move being cheered by the Dutch supporters.
She worked well to the music and her tumbling was as clean as a whistle
– piked full-in; handspring double twisting front front layout; whip 2
½ twist punch front full and whip triple twist. Oana
Petrovschi’s fist vault was a 1 ½ twisting Yurchenko, which
she stuck. She showed a RO – ½ on front pike off for a second vault and
took a hop forward.
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.. at the end a
difference from
0,05 points...,
but what happy Svetlana!!
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Then Khorkina took to the floor, still
with a chance of taking the gold. She opened with a whip triple twist,
continued with a double pike and finished with a 2 ½ twist as opposed to
the double twist she had shown in the team competition. The judges took a
long time before coming up with her score
When the 9,387 was flashed and her name appeared in first place on
th score board, a lot of spectators booed loudly.
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Natalia Ziganshina and Alyona Kvasha still
had the chance of a medal. Ziganshina was first up and stepped out of
bounds on her 2 ½ twist punch front full but was very clean elsewhere for
a 9,25. Kvasha then stepped up looking confident and nailed all of her
four tumbling runs – piked full-in; handspring double front; 2 ½ twist
to punch front and tucked full-in- to delighted screams of her Ukrainian
team mates. They screamed even louder when the score showed her in third
place.
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Look at me...!
Bronze, Alyona Kvasha (UKR)
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