Senior Team Competition: Long Wait For Dutch Silver

From Patras: Nora Schuler & Massiomo Cogliati (Photos)

The day did not go well for the two German girls. Camilla Ermert fell on bars and beam, while Yvonne Musik came off beam on a tucked front and sat down her handspring front pike vault. Floor went ok for the two gymnast. Camilla Ermert opened with a double front. Yvonne Musik stepped out of bounds on her Arabian double front mount but was surefooted elsewhere.

When the gymnasts marched in for the final subdivision, there were only two Spanish gymnasts present – Elena Gomez and Alba Planas. The surprise was even greater when only Gomez mounted the podium. Marta Cusido, who had completed podium training on a heavily taped leg, cheered from the stands. According to Alba Planas, Cusido had made the trip already injured with a tear in her leg muscle which had got worse. Planas herself had bruised her neck badly in a fall in podium training and couldn’t compete. “Marta would probably have competed if I could have, but since I couldn’t, she didn’t either,” she said.

In the second rotation, Russia whizzed through three great bars sets, capped off by Svetlana Khorkina who nailed her routine for a 9,787, the highest score of the competition to date. Ukraine competed bars well, anchored by Irina Yarotskaya, who opened with a nice combination of stalder full on low bar into immediate straddled hecht to high bar. Over on floor Italy’s Ilaria Colombo sat down her Arabian double front while Monica Bergamelli went out of bounds on her opening full-in but nailed all of her other tumbles. Gargano navigated her full-in;  whip through to  2 ½ twist punch front and triple twist well.

Beam did not go very well for Russia with Natalia Ziganshina surviving three wobbles and Khorkina's connections slow for a 9,6 start value. Lyudmila Yezhova sold her difficult set, including the combination of Onodi- front aerial-side somi well and couldn’t help a huge smile after she stuck her 2 ½ twist dismount. Ukraine started to falter on beam with two falls from Natalia Sirobaba (handspring-front tuck and her dismount) and one from Irina Yarotskaya (front pike mount). Oana Petrovschi fell on her opening tumble of 2 ½ twist to punch front full.  On vault, Italy gained momentum with Gargano’s full twisting ff on back pike off, Colombo’s 1 ½ twisting Yurchenko and Bergamelli’s double twisting Yurchenko, all landed well. France had mixed luck on vault with Clelia Coutzac overrotating her 1 ½ twisting Yurchenko and Regease sticking her handspring front pike ½ cold.

 In the final rotation, Russia suffered a scare after Yekaterina Shuster crashed her tucked full-in dismount after a nice routine that opened with a piked full-in, followed by an Arabian double front. Natalia Ziganshina and Svetlana Khorkina both got through their routines well. Khorkina opened with a whip triple twist, continued with a double pike and closed with a double twist. Natalia Sirobaba wrecked Ukraine’s medal chances by falling to her hands on her Arabian double front and additionally went out of bounds a 2 ½ twist punch front. Meanwhile, over on bars Italy was winding up their giants during good routines and winding down for a bronze medal. The girls from the Netherlands had been patiently waiting in the stands throughout the evening’s competition and were rewarded with a silver for their performance early on in the day.