Teams
training at full speed
The
participants are nearly unanimous in their praise of the excellent
training conditions offered in the 6 large halls of the Expo in
Ghent.
Small problems, like the adjustment of the uneven bars, are
immediately solved.
![](../images/rou_wom1.jpg) |
![](../images/rom_wom_train1.jpg)
Zone 0 is for athletes only…!
<< The Romanian team, favourites
for the gold, with Andreea Radcuan arrives for training |
Supervised
by Octavian Belu, the Romanian
women's team worked the apparatus with their usual professionalism.
Belu watched from the sidelines, his arms folded, he hardly needed
to give advice or spot them. This is the team that, apart from
Russia, is surely the top favourite for the competition.
Tough
security checks rightly keep the athletes away from
prying media representatives at this stage. The stars and their not
so famous gymnast colleagues can be spotted wandering around in the
halls or near the entrance where food and drinks are served. This
area, however, resembles a vast hall at a train station and the
whole atmosphere seems a little lacklustre – well, it is perhaps
to be expected with mass feeds for more than 800 people!
![](../images/jowtschew_train.jpg) |
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![](../images/ger_team_ankunft.jpg)
The
German team arrives for training
<< Jordan Jovchev -
cautiously optimistic since he is not totally injury free |
The
German men skipped their morning training session –they
had been scheduled for one hour only- on the last day before podium
training, but made up for it by working very hard in their 2 ½ hour
session in the evening.
Valeri
Belenki bumped into Oksana Chusovitina – the
four-time world champion competing in his 11th
(!!!) Worlds and the 25-year-old who won the gold on floor
in Indianapolis in 1991 (!!!) in her sixth Worlds! Genuine
gymnastics history… especially considering that Belenki
and Chusovitina were both members of the last Soviet team at
the 1991 Indianapolis World Championships.
According to coach Svetlana
Kuznetsova, the Uzbek even hopes to contend for a
medal on vault: "Oksana has to vaults with 9,8 SV. A
handspring-front layout with a full twist and a layout
Tsukahara with 1 ½ twists as her second vault. We
definitely want to make the final with these, and why not a
medal…?"
Not an easy task considering Oksana and her team mate Alexandra
Gordeyeva (21) are competing without a team. For
Gordeyeva this is her fourth Worlds, she made her debut at
the event in Sabae in 1995. Both come from a country that
has a host of problems other than good training conditions
for its gymnastics team. |
![](../images/belenki_tschusso2.jpg)
Valeri and Oxana |
The
German women were happy with their training, which went
off without any problems, but were feeling a little tired and washed
out. Their podium training session will be on Friday.
![](../images/ger_wom_team_wm01.jpg)
German
women on their way to lunch
Mit Spannung erwartet auch Österreichs 'zig-facher Staatsmeister
Thomas Zimmermann seine 10.WM (!). Große Hoffnung legt er auf
seinen Supersprung, den er als Neuheit beim Technischen Komitee
eingereicht hat: Ein Überschlag-Salto vorwärts- halbe Drehung-
Salto rw. soll es werden, faktisch ein doppelter Cuervo. Aber
- stehen, und auf den Punkt bringen, muss man das Ding eben, um als
"Zimmermann" in die Annalen der Turngeschichte eingehen zu
können!
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![](../images/zimmermann_aut.jpg)
"Zimmi":
"My 10th Worlds but I'm not done yet…!" |
Austria's
multiple national champion Thomas
Zimmermann can also hardly wait to get started on his 10th
(!) Worlds. He has high hopes for his new vault that he has
submitted to the MTC: handspring – front tuck – half turn into a
back tuck, in theory a double Cuervo. But- for it to be named the
"Zimmermann" he will have to successfully compete it!
The
Chinese men, still totally unknown at the moment, showed
perfect discipline in their training, but no top-level difficulty
yet that would hint at their potential. We'll see…
Little
excitement to be reported elsewhere, apart from a few injuries.
Belgian champion Sigrid Persson
unfortunately injured her foot and the Austrian coach has his hand
in cast after a judgment error while spotting a gymnast!
Men's
podium training starts today (report this evening),
women's on Friday. Podium training should offer a more complete
insight into the teams' potential.
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