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The day started with a shock in the Russian camp….
… and ended with one
for the Germans
From Ghent: Eckhard Herholz/ Reinhard Linder
Normally
podium training is supposed to help teams stabilize their routines
and get to know the apparatus. But for favourite Russia disaster
struck in the first group of podium training.
Jevgeni
Podgorni...
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Jevgeni Podgorni… in top form
on vault, then his crash on high bar and a disappointed
Podgorni on his way to the hospital |
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After
reigning world champion Nikolai Kryukov
arrived nursing back problems, one of Russia's key team members, Yevgeni
Podgorni, took an unfortunate fall on a Gienger, landing
on his right shoulder and elbow. Stunned from the pain, he couldn't
get up at first and was immediately treated by the doctor that had
come rushing onto the podium. A short while later, he remerged, his
shoulder heavily strapped and his arm kept in place by a bandage and
with ice on his injured elbow. A press conference with the Russian
team and Nemov, which had originally been planned for after podium
training, was cancelled. "We arrived here with seven gymnasts
and now we're down to four…", a visibly shaken Leonid Arkayev
said without giving any details about who the third casualty on the
Russian team might be.
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Arkayev in shock; Ice for the
elbow
Things
had been going well for the Russian up until then. Alexei
Bondarenko, whose handspring – double front
looked particularly explosive on the new vaulting table
Pegases, was good on bars as well. |
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Nemov was
impressive on vault with a RO-1/2 turn on to handspring-front
layout with 1 ½ twists off. The Russians were solid on bars and
Nemov attempted a Tkachev in layout-piked position on high bar,
but fell on his Gienger. And then Podgorni's crash, which might
have already decided the medal race…
Immediately, a few other teams saw the door open for
them. The Koreans for
instance, who looked strong and now began to dare to dream of a
medal for the first time…
The team competition promises to be real nail-biter,
which will defy any previous prognosis or favourites. The young
nobodies from China are not (yet) in a league with the best
teams and will be a long way from the medal podium. Why the
Chinese chose to have their stars attend their
National Games in November instead of the World Championship
remains their secret. Despite already having two major events
– World Student Games and Goodwill Games – behind them, it
seems highly unlikely that gymnasts as fit and coordinated would
find another competition too taxing.
In addition, the Ukrainian
team is weakened by injuries, so that the medals
could go to teams that never even dared to dream of them in the
past.
Will
there be a "Zimsi" or not?
At least there was some
applause from the specialists sitting in the sparsely filled
stands during podium training today. Austrian Tomas Zimmermann
– nicked named "Zimsi" – actually landed his new
vault quite well. It is a handspring-front tuck followed by a
half turn into a back tuck. He has submitted this vault –
never done by any other gymnast before- to the MTC for
evaluation.
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The Voralberg native, competing in his tenth Worlds but far from
burnt out, is naturally hoping for this vault to be named the
"Zimmermann".
>> see drawing |
Constant contact with the coaches
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While
it is clear that it will be listed in CdP as the fifth
ten-tariff vault, it has not yet been confirmed that it will
actually bear Zimmermann's name. Is it similar to a Roche, ie a
handspring-double front with a half turn … or a "double
Cuervo "?!? Technospeak, but one would wish for Zimmermann's
sake that his name goes down in the CdP. His most important task now
is to reach the final, where he will struggle since he hasn't got a
high quality second vault! Just a simple Kasamtsu (9,3 SV) won't do!
But, who knows, maybe he will add a few extra twists if he makes the
final.
Late in the evening – China
and finally Germany
And another message of doom here:
Valeri Belenki, old man of the
team, injured himself during bars warm-up. In a first diagnosis team
physician Dr. Boschert found a
tear in the tendon attached to the biceps in Belenki's right arm.
The ever friendly Stuttgart native will definitely not be able to
set the record of competing in his 11th Worlds – a feat
he had hoped to accomplish in Ghent.!
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"Five
green bottles" .. who will be 6? Pfeifer, Berczes or will
Toba put out the fire like in Sydney?
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Sergej Pfeifer will
most likely compete now that Belenki is out. Nonethless Wolfgang
Willam, head of the Olympic disciplines in the German
Gymnastics Federation, immediately phoned Christian
Berczes from the SV Halle club and had him flown to
Ghent immediately. The final decision will be taken in Ghent.
Coach Klaus Nigl
said: "We weren't shocked by Belenki not being able to
compete, we had to expect something like that. Still, we are all
sad that it had to happen to Valeri. Everybody would have been
happy for him if he could have competed in these World
Championships, which will be his last."
Unfortunately,
this incident also proves how little depth the German team has! |
Other impressions:
>> Romania:
Definitely in the hunt for medals. This team has a dynamic
all-arounder in Marian Dragulescu, not only due his qualities on
floor and vault – and Marius Urzica's qualities on pommels and
bars are well known.
>>Greece:
Rumour has it that Ioannis Melissanidis is preparing another
innovative vault. The colossus of Rhodes is back too.
After taking some down time after the Olympics where he put
on weight, he flaunted his impressive strength again. Look forward
to the battle of the giants on rings between Tambakos, Csollany,
Jovchev and Ivankov.
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