GYMN-L Digest - 1 Jul 1995 to 2 Jul 1995

There are 5 messages totalling 280 lines in this issue.

Topics of the day:

1. European Cup
2. British Womens Nationals AA
3. Daniela Bartova (2)
4. OKSANA bit...

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Date: Sat, 1 Jul 1995 21:31:34 -0500
From: ***@VAXA.CIS.UWOSH.EDU
Subject: European Cup

Date sent: 1-JUL-1995 21:30:02
Just finished watching the Euro Cup Event finals. couple of comments:

1)What's with all the fuss about Khorkina's floor routine? I still think
the Americans have some of the best routines in the world, and Borden
is tops of the tops.
2)What is so hrd about podkopayeva keeping her legs together on that
Ghenger? Krokina shoulda won.
3)I agree. Choreography is just not as strong.

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Date: Sun, 2 Jul 1995 13:03:14 BST
From: ***@IC.AC.UK
Subject: British Womens Nationals AA

British Womens National Championships
=====================================

Guildford, England 30 June - 2 July, 1995

This meet took place over three days of competition:
30 June: Seniors Compulsories
1 July: Juniors and Seniors All-Around
2 July: Juniors and Seniors Event Finals

I only went to the All-Around portion of the meet so this message
will only be concentrated on that.

Juniors
-------

I went with my friend Kasha to the "Guildford Spectrum" where this
meet took place. We were a bit late as when we got there, the Juniors
AA had already started (Juniors AA in the afternoon, Seniors AA in
the evening). The arena, although was not that big, was packed full
of spectators, mostly girls from the various clubs cheering on their
team mates. There were 16 rows of seats along the side and it was
a full house. I'll describe the Juniors briefly... there are many
mistakes around as expected, one of the most common I noticed was
the gymnasts hitting their legs on the floor when they were on the
low bar in the uneven bars. Very difficult to keep your legs off the
ground especially just after a transition from the high bar. The
British bars has always been our weakest event anyway.

There was one very scary moment during the second rotation. One of
the favourites for the Junors title, Lisa Mason, was warming up on
bars, after scoring a good 9.40 on the vault in the first rotation.
She was trying a Tkatchev, which was high and beautiful, but she
failed to regrasp. She fell onto the floor with hands first but it
looked as though she jabbed her arms badly as she landed. She gave
out a loud shriek and everybody in the audience went silent. The
coaches and officials were around her in an instant, and it took
them about 7 minutes before they carried her away. Afterwards it
was rumoured that she couldn't feel the best part of her arm, and
is now in hopsital.

The rest of the meet went smoothly thank God, as 36 gymnasts (well,
35 now without Lisa) battled out for the Juniors AA title. The top
six results are:

1. Emma Suckling (Leatherhead) 36.575
2. Natalie Lucitt (Swansea) 36.275
3. Mandy Cunningham (Brighton) 35.150
4. Rochelle Douglas (East London) 34.500
5. Stacey Eaton (Leatherhead) 34.275
6. Melissa Wilcox (Easton) 34.150

I've seen Emma and Natalie before in the GBR Juniors squad so it's
no big surprise that they were at the top.

There was now an interval when the Seniors will come out for warm-ups
then the Seniors AA. As we queued to leave the arena for a break,
Kasha met up with Natalia Ilienko and we started talking (see separate
note on this).

Outside the arena we met Sarah (Editor, _Gym Stars_ magazine) who was
trying to sell her mags and various goodies at a stall. We chatted
with her for a bit.

After getting something to eat (a yucky doughnut) Kasha and I returned
to the arena. We had tickets for different seats for the Senior meet
so we settled down at our new seats to watch the warm-up. There's
a girl sitting next to me and I didn't realise until she left some time
later that it was Stacey Eaton who was fifth in the Juniors.

Later Emma Suckling the Juniors Champ came and sat behind us. Kasha asked
for her autograph whilst I took her picture. She said she's 13 years old
and thus will still be too young for the Sabae Worlds. She seemeed very
happy with life as you would expect!

Seniors
-------

Just before the Seniors meet started, a man and a woman came up to us and
told us that we were at the wrong seats. The descriptions on the tickets
were confusing hence our mistake and we duly moved to our correct seats
which were four rows behind. Later I realised that "the man and the woman"
were actually Karin Szymko's mother and father as Karin herself joined
them in the stands. Karin was third in last year's British Nationals and
it was disappointing to see her not competing (especially since she's
my personal favourite!). Later Kasha and I both went over to Karin
separately and asked for her autograph. She said she's hurt her back and
is hoping to return to gym soon. She is very sweet and extremely shy.
Karin's dad is Hungarian and mum is Japanese which makes her distinct look.

Jackie Brady the former British Champ, soon came and sat two rows in front
of us. Kasha went over for an autograph and Jackie said she's coaching at
Alderwood.

Onto the competition. Annika Reeder leads after the compulsories (the only
girl to score 9 or above in all four apparatus in the compulsories). I also
saw some very low scores in the compulsories such as 0.5 and 1.8 on the
list... There were a total of 33 competitors in this AA comp.

Annika herself was first to go, on her least favourite apparatus, the bars.
She fell on her Geinger for the Nth time I saw her do that and also on her
double front dismount. She only scored 8.275. Zita Lusack posted a 9.395
for her Yurchenko 1 & 1/2 twisting tuck on vault to close the gap.
Michaela Knox, who trains at Flips in USA but chose to represent Britain,
did a very nice beam routine including a flick layout layout series. It
was spoiled by just a simple layout dismount though for 9.05. Sonia
Lawrence did high handspring front pike vaults to get the highest score
of the rotation: 9.695.

Second rotation Annika was on beam. She fell again which spoiled a rather
nice routine, for 8.825. Zita closed the gap further with 9.300 on bars.
Sonia did a messy Geinger but landed a nice double layout off bars, 9.125.

Third rotation (oh there is no scoreboard in the arena thus nobody knew
what the current standings were in the competition). Michaela's vault
was a handspring front tuck (plus a half twist in the second vault).
9.450. Annika went on floor to the loudest cheers of the evening. She
unveiled a new floor routine to new music and choreography. She
did full-in back out in her first pass; rudi onto a double twist
combination as her second pass; and handspring, flyspring into 1 & 1/2
twist as her last pass. Her score was 9.725, which turned out to be the
highest of the meet. Zita did a steady beam for 9.300. (Note: Michaela,
Annika and Zita were scheduled to compete at around the same time so
sometimes they were performing together, in all the rotations) Chloe
Pragnell, last year's British Junior Champ, went on floor straight after
Annika and she inherited most of the crowd's cheers too. She did a
full-in; handspring, flyspring into full; and triple twists (stumble).
She scored 9.225. Sonia scored 8.575 on beam (didn't see what happened).

Last rotation. Annika did handspring front pike on vault to score
9.565. Zita performed her Commonwealth Games'94 floor which was elegent
but lacked in difficulty I feel. She only scored 9.125. Michaela
was on bars which included a Geinger and a double pike/layout dismount
for 9.100. Sonia did a dynmic floor routine (again same as Commonwealth
Games'94) which included a high full-in and a triple twist. 9.575 was
her score.

So that's the end of the competition. The crowd were treated to some
British rhythmic gymnastics displays whilst the judges add up the
scores.

Top Six Results (Optional scores only... total score inclusive of
compulsoires)

VT UB BB FX Total
1. Annika Reeder (South Essex) 9.565 8.275 8.825 9.725 73.740
2. Zita Lusack (Heathrow) 9.395 9.300 9.300 9.125 73.470
3. Sonia Lawrence (Spelthorne) 9.695 9.125 8.575 9.575 73.095
4. Gemma Cuff (Heathrow) 9.625 9.200 8.925 9.050 73.075
5. Andrea Leman (Alderwood) 9.315 9.000 8.775 9.375 72.465
6. Michaela Knox (Flips) 9.450 9.100 9.050 9.100 72.075

There's one other who scored all 9s today and she is

Jenny Cox (Heathrow) 9.285 9.275 9.350 9.000 71.935

The only blemish of her meet was a 7.325 in the Compulsories bars, otherwise
it was 9s all the way. She looked like Lilia Podkopayeva from a distance.

That's about all. During the medal ceremony Jackie Brady was presented an
award for representing Britain well in past competitions.

The big three managed to grace the medal podium and the crowd favourite
Annika Reeder won. She and Sonia looked happy on the medal podium but Zita
looked a bit gloomy (or maybe that was just my impression). I guess she's
not too happy with losing her British crown.

The Event finals will be on today but I won't be going to that. Maybe I
can get the results off Sarah _Gym Stars_ some time later.

Sherwin

- with thanks to Kasha for being a nice companion and in writing down
all the scores and notes!

PS The Rhythmiv European Team Championships will be next weekend in Prague,
Czech Republic.

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Date: Sun, 2 Jul 1995 16:12:16 BST
From: ***@IC.AC.UK
Subject: Daniela Bartova

I was watching an athletics meet on TV today when I saw Daniela Bartova,
the former Czechoslovakian gymnast, competing in the womens pole vault
event. I wasn't sure if it was her at first, but the commentator did
say "former gymnast" so it must have been her. She did very well too
as she had just broken the womens pole vault world record! The athletics
meet she was competing in was the Gateshead Games.

Daniela competed in many meets in the late 80s/early 90s including the
European Championships in 1989 and 1992, European Cup 1991 and indeed
in the Barcelona Olympics 1992.

Sherwin

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Date: Sun, 2 Jul 1995 13:14:50 -0600
From: ***@ZEPHYR.MEDCHEM.PURDUE.EDU
Subject: OKSANA bit...

:r OKSANA

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Date: Sun, 2 Jul 1995 19:44:46 BST
From: ***@IC.AC.UK
Subject: Re: Daniela Bartova

I have checked and can confirm that it was indeed Daniela Bartova
the ex-gymnast who had just broken the World Record in Womens
Pole Vaulting today. The new record is now 4.14 metres, breaking her
own world record of 4.12 metres. She's now 21 years old and even
presented herself gymnastics-style after she landed her pole-vault.
She still looks the same as ever. Daniela is sure to compete in
the Atlanta Olympics in the pole-vault, after competing as a
gymnast in the Barcelona Olympics. Good on her!

Sherwin

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End of GYMN-L Digest - 1 Jul 1995 to 2 Jul 1995
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