Five places for GBR in the World Finals- unheard of!
 The
Women’s Qualifications at the World Championships in
Melbourne brought an incredible success for the British Gymnasts:
Beth Tweddle finished fourth in the All-around, 36.937, behind
Nastia Liukin (USA) - 37.424, Chellsie Memmel (USA)- 37.412
and Monette Russo (AUS) - 37.262.
Shavahn Church, in 24th position, also qualified for the
Individual All-around Final on Fri, 25 Nov.
Beth will compete in the A. Bars Final on Sat. 26 Nov. having
scored 9.537 in the Qualifications (1. Liukin- 9.562 2. Memmel-
9.550).
The score winning her a place also in the Floor Final, on
Sun, 27 Nov, was 9.425. (1. Dos Santos (BRA)- 9.550 2. Sacramone
(USA)- 9.500 3. Liukin (USA)- 9.475 4. Le Pennec (FRA)- 9.437)
 The
fifth British Final in Melbourne was achieved by Imogen Cairns,
on Vault- eight 9.081 (top scorer Cheng Fei from Cina, 9.631).
Shavahn Church is the first Reserve for the Vault Final.
Subdivision 1:
The expected All-around battle between two established and
experienced world-class competitors, Chellsie Memmel (USA),
2003 World Champion on A. Bars, and Verona Van de Leur (NED),
2002 World Silver medallist on Floor, versus a gymnast from
a well- tried stable Florica Leonida (ROM), did not materialise.
Van de Leur, who had an exciting Podium was not capable of
repeating this level of performance, and after an unsteady
Beam (7.950) fell out of the running, whereas the other two
continued on to dominate this Subdivision.
 The
surprise of the Subdivision was Marta Pihan of Poland, who,
at times produced world-class elements and combinations.
In the third rotation, Daiane Dos Santos, the reigning World
Champion on Floor from Brazil, produced her extraordinary
Samba routine packed with difficulty : Arabian double front
somersault piked,
Arabian double front somersault tucked, Double straight, Double
back somersault piked with a spot-on landing. Score 9.550.
Other gymnasts who attracted attention during this first
session at the Rod Laver Arena were: Imogen Cairns (GBR) -
Vault, 9. 187 and Floor, 8.962
Kim Bui (GER), Vault, 8.912
Mayu Kuroda (JPN), 16 - A. Bars- 9.437
Elyse Hopfner- Hibbs (CAN), A. Bars , 9.362
The Japanese Ayaka Sahara who produced some exciting work
on Floor, 8.762 and Vault, 8.737.
The best choreographed floor exercise of the day belonged
to Tina Erceg (CRO), with music and movement closely linked
(8.425)
On a home crowd basis Olivia Vivian successfully completed
her A. Bars routine which brought an ecstatic response from
the crowd (9.312).
Danushka Wijerthna from Sri Lanka gets the award for courage
arriving to Rod Laver straight from the airport, while her
coach had to go back home, because of Visa problems.
Unquestionably, this was Memmel’s Subdivision. She
showed clearly the massive step which the USA has taken to
ensure real strength in depth in their Team.
Top three in Subdivision 1:
1. Chellsie Memmel (USA)- 37.412
2. Florica Leonida (ROM)- 35.249
3. Marta Pihan (PUOL)- 34.912
Subdivision 2:
The second Subdivision had the possibility of changes in
the All-around ranking and new leaders in the individual Apparatus
standings.
In the first rotation two of the favourites, Lenka de Simone
(ESP) and Yulia Lozhechko (RUS), established good scores and
high ranking positions on their first apparatus, Vault, 9.468
and Beam, 9.337 respectively.
However, this was not the case with the other champions-
Marin Debauve (FRA), 2005 European All-around Champion and
Catalina Ponor (ROM), 2004 Olympic Champion on Beam, Floor
and Team, who fell and low scored respectively on A. Bars,
8.737 and Floor, 9.200.
Lozhechko’s 9.337 took her to the top of the Beam list
.
In the second Rotation more surprises were to come- Debauve
falling from the Beam (8.312), but now removing all chances
for seeing herself in the Final and Nan Zhang (CHN), 2004
Olympic and 2003 World Bronze All-around medallist, coming
to grief three times on Bars (7.400).
Lozhechko’s Floor exercise brought back memories of
the grace and beauty of yester- years Soviet Champions- Elvira
Saadi, Olga Mostepanova, Lubov Burda and Natalia Ilienko.
Unfortunately, her tumbles let her down (8.812).
Lenka de Simone in her “Suit of Lights” seemed
to be suited for a good All-around score. However, Rotation
3 was to change the whole meaning of this Subdivision.
As Robert Burns, the famous poet stated: “ The best
laid plans of mice and men often go astray!”
As De Simone, Shavahn Church (GBR), Nan Zhang and Alicia
Sacramone all fell from the Beam (some on more than one occasion),
the whole face of his Subdivision had now changed.
In the last, fourth Rotation, those performances which could
only be ranked as steady as a result of the stars tumbles
became vital.
Three gymnasts suddenly split Memmel and Florica Leonida,
who lead the field in the All-around List after the first
Subdivision.
Church and de Simone saved their all-around situations with
beautifully choreographed Floor routines (8.562 and 8.875
respectively) and Ponor, performing more like her old self,
was awarded 9. 562 to take the lead on Beam.
Also to mention is Jana Bieger’s (USA) excellent performance
on A. Bars, 9.412
Top three in the All-around after Subdivision 2:
1. Chellsie Memmel (USA)- 37.412
2. Suzanne Harmes (NED)- 35.849
3. Daria Bijak (GER)- 35.600
Subdivision 3
Subdivision three, which included some of the strongest challengers
for the All-around and the Apparatus titles, was expected
to change the Ranking positions.
The majority of the top performers scored high for their
first routines:
Oxana Chussovitina (UZB), taking part in her ninth World Championships,
at 30 years of age, the defending World Champion on Vault,
scored 9.381, moving into second position in the Vault List,
after Sacramone (9.468).
Elena Zamolodchikova (RUS), 2000 Olympic Champions on Floor
and Vault, in excellent form - 9.412 for her Disco Floor routine.
She produced an exercise which contained a double straight
backwards, full twisting front somersault, round-off, flick-
flack, double pike; triple twist and full in back out piked.
Current European Champion on Floor, Isabelle Severino (FRA),
25 - 9.212 for her very elegant routine.
Anastasia (Nastia) Liukin, the new prodigy of USA Gymnastics,
daughter of the 1988 Olympic Champion (High Bar and Team)
Valery Liukin and 1987 Hoop Rhythmic Gymnastics World Champion,
Anna Kochneva - opened with 9.475 on Floor, the third best
score so far.
Fan Ye, the defending Champion on Beam- impeccable (apart
from a step after her triple twisting dismount) - 9.550 and
second position in the Beam List, after Ponor.
In Round 2: Zamolodchikova scored 9.375 on Vault; 9.375;
Nastia Liukin, also on Vault- 9.125, while the Japanese Kyoko
Oshima left an excellent impression on A. Bars - 9.237.
Rotation 3: Severino- 9.400 on A. Bars; Alina Kozich (UKR)-
9.137 on Floor; Nastia Lukin -
9.562 on A. Bars - a routine which has the possibility to
claim the Gold medal in three days time.
Liukin, Zamolodchikova and Severino were performing in one
and the same group, moving from apparatus to apparatus, keeping
close to each other’s scores: 0.3 between Liukin and
Zamo and 0.088 between Zamo and Severino, at the end of the
third rotation.
Another potential Champion, whose Vault was expected with
great interest, was Cheng Fei (CHN). Her new Vault , round-off-
half turn onto the Horse, Handspring front straight with one
and a half twist, was much discussed by the Media before the
Championships. Cheng was outstanding in her performance! Her
average of 9.631 brought her into the leading position in
the Vault List.
Top three at the end of Subdivision 3:
1. Nastia Liukin (USA)- 37.424
2. Chellsie Memmel (USA- 37. 412
3. Isabelle Severino (FRA- 36. 861
In the first three Subdivisions, out of 230 scores delivered
by the judges, only 46 were above 9.00pts: 13 on Vault, 16
on A. Bars, 6 on Beam and 11on Floor. The highest scores so
far were Ponor’s 9.562 for Beam, followed by Liukin’s,
9.562 on A. Bars, Sacramone’s best scorer on Floor 9.500
and Cheng Fei (CHN) on Vault 9.662.
It would appear when studying the statistics that the old
coaching maxim concerning capacity, 75% and stability 95 %+
has been reversed. There have been too many faults and too
many falls.
Three gymnasts provided the stability both in the All-around
and the Individual Apparatus performances. Two are household
names - Zamolodchikova and Severino, and the third is a brilliant
newcomer form the USA, Anastasia Liukin.
Many people were disappointed that Oxana Chussovitina did
not compete in the All-around because she too presented high
level work with excellent stability.
Congratulations to the Japanese- they have Kyoko Oshima in
6th place in the All-around, she has a Russian coach from
the Vladimir School of Gymnastics.
Subdivision 4:
The large audience waited expectedly for the four gymnasts
who would have a large say in the final outcome of the All-around
and the Individual Apparatus Rankings.
They were Anna Pavlova (RUS), Emilie Lepennec (FRA), Monette
Russo (AUS and Beth Tweddle (GBR) and you will find in the
end, despite errors sometimes on their favourite apparatus,
they had a huge influence on the final outcome.
The first to falter was Pavlova on the A. Bars ( 8.362),
but she steadied herself for her remaining three apparatus,
where she qualified for Vault and Beam and finished eight
in the All-around Qualifications.
The next one to fall was Le Pennec, on A. Bars, after an
excellent start on Floor. She, however fought on and finished
in seventh place in the All-around Ranking, having qualified
in 4th place on Floor.
Tweddle, who seemed to be suffering from a stomach cramp
was excellent on Bars and Floor, qualified for both Finals,
but an unfortunate dismount from Beam dropped her into 4th
place in the Al-around Ranking.
Russo, not a World or Olympic medallist like the other three,
but performing in front of a large home crowd and having now
successfully adopted the mantel of Alan Slater, showed excellent
stability; qualified in third place for the Beam Final and
achieved third place in the All-Around.
The fourth Subdivision was a fitting climax to a long but
excellent day of Gymnastics, which has seen the lead change
many times.
Top three after Subdivision 4:
1. Nastia Liukin (USA)- 37. 424
2. Chellsie Memmel (USA)- 37. 412
3. Monette Russo (AUS)- 37.262
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