Results for the Womens European Championships 2008

The Cottbus World Cup event is currently being held this weekend but before I covered any of that I thought I should first give a quick round up of the results of the Women's European Championships, that took place last weekend -

Team Finals
1. Romania - 181.525
2. Russia - 179.475
3. France - 177.175
4. Italy 5. Ukraine 6. Great Britain 7. Germany 8. Netherlands

Vault
1. Oksana Chusovitina GER - 14.812
2. Giovannini Carlotta ITA - 14.662
3. Francesca Benolli ITA- 14.462
4. Ariella Kaeslin SUI - 14.362
5. Anna Pavlova RUS - 14.337
6. Natassia Marachkuskaya BLR - 14.237
7. Enikoe Korcsmaros HUN - 14.162
8. Rebecca Downie GBR - 13.500

Uneven Bars
1. Ksenia Semenova RUS - 15.900
2. Steliana Nistor ROU - 15.800
3. Dariya Zgoba UKR - 15.625
4. Elizabeth Tweddle GBR - 15.475
5. Anastasia Koval UKR - 15.425
6. Lia Parolari ITA - 14.825
7. Karina Myasnikova RUS - 14.800
8. Rebecca Downie GBR - 14.700

Balance Beam
1. Ksenia Semenova RUS - 15.950
2. Alina Kozich UKR/Sandra Izbasa ROM - 15.450
4. Paulina Morel FRA - 15.300
5. Vanessa Ferrari ITA - 15.175
6. Steliana Nistor ROM/Lenika de Simone ESP - 15.075
8. Marina Proskurina UKR - 14.650

Floor
1. Sandra Izbasa ROU - 15.775
2. Elizabeth Tweddle GBR - 15.525
3. Tamarjan ROU - 14.975
4. Marine Petit FRA - 14.900
5. Anna Pavlova RUS - 14.875
6. Oksana Chusovitina GER - 14.850
7. Cassy Vericel FRA - 14.775
8. Alina Kozich UKR - 14.700

My Thoughts
I'm glad that Russia and Romania won the team finals but I would like to have seen Ukraine medal there also, they just always seem to muck up at competitions where they have a good chance.
Despite the fact that Chusovitina fell on her second vault, I'm still glad she medalled - she probably didn't deserve gold but her first vault was excellent and she does have that amazing vault reputation.
This was my first time seeing Ksenia Semenova at a big competition and I'm really impressed, she's definetly one to watch for the Olympics. I also liked Lia Parolari, who I've only seen a little of before - she was very elegant on bars in my opinion.
And I'm also glad that the winners on floor were the ones who added a little dance work and weren't just all about the tumbles.

Please post any comments you have on the winners/outcome - I'd love to hear what anyone else thinks.

My favourite Female Artistic Gymasts

I have so many favourite female artistic gymnasts it's hard to pick a list, so I've just put some of the main ones I like in a random order -

Svetlana Khorkina, Simona Amanar, Nicoleta Onel, Alina Kozich, Veronica Wagner, Tatiana Gutsu, Yelena Zamolodchikova and Roza Galiyeva

From the watermark I only know that Tatiana's photo is from mattsphotos.com but contact me with info on any other you know.

My Favourite Male Gymnasts

My fave Male Artistic Gymnasts

1. Aleksei Nemov - I don't know many gymnastic fans who don't like Aleksei Nemov. He had superb skill and personality - and for me his FXs were among the best.

2. Vitali Scherbo - He had the same sort of skill and personality package as Nemov. His peak was in 1992 when he won six gold medals in Barcelona but for some reason I preffered him in 1996.

3. Marius Urzica - Pommels like no other

4. Marian Dragulescu - The best vaults I've ever seen (Sorry I didn't have a picture)

Again if these pictures belong to you please contact me so I can give credit.

My Favourite Rhythmic Gymnasts

These are the gymnasts that top my list of favourite rhythmics.

1. Alina Kabayeva - Although not quite at her best towards the end of her career I feel that Alina brought personality to RG that no gymnast had before.

2. Zarina Gizikova - I never got to see much of Zarina before she left the sport but I loved everything that I did.

3. Bianka Panova - A beautiful and elegant Bulgarian gymnast from the 80s.

4. Olga Kapranova - Another Russian, Olga's routines are not to everyone's taste but I think that she is elegant but with a touch of fun at the same time.

All my faves, except for Olga, are now retired but out of those her are still competing I also like Anna Bessonova and Simona Peycheva.

The Premiere Post

Hi and thanks for coming to see my blog. I've been eager to start a gymnastics site for such a long time and now with the Olympics on the way, not to mention all the other great competitions happening soon, I decided this was a good time to get started.

Obviously this is the first post so there's not much to see yet but I hope you'll enjoy what you see when I eventually get some blogs up. I'm going to start by posting some of my favourites and I'd love to hear comments from people to see who they like best too.