2006 World Championships Draw
The draw for the major event of 2006, The World Championships
in Artistic Gymnastics in Aarhus, Denmark, 13-21 October,
has been officially announced by the FIG
Aarhus, a city beautifully situated on the East coast of
Denmark, in the heart of Jutland, will host one of the most
interesting and intriguing events over the last two years
for two main reasons:
1. It will include the first Team event since Athens 2004
and
2. Because only the top 24 Teams from Aarhus will be allowed
to continue on the road to Beijing 2008 (i.e. to take part
in the “crucial” Olympic Qualifications in 2007,
in Stuttgart, where only the top 12 will win their Olympic
Visas for China).
MEN’S DRAW
9 Subdivisions (including 6 Mixed Groups).
Competing on 14/15 October 2006
GBR Men’s Team will perform in Subdivision 3, together
with Portugal, Algeria and Kazakhstan - starting on P. Bars.
The most interesting coincidence caused by the Men’s
draw seems to be the fact that the majority of the medal contenders
are “packed” into the first two Subdivisions:
USA, KOR and RUS open the Qualifications in Subdivision 1
CHN and JPN, the two Gymnastics Giants from Asia confront
each other, and BLR, in Subdivision 2.
ROM will be surrounded on the competition floor by FRA, SUI
and CAN in Subdivision 5
GER is in Subdivision 8 with UKR in Subdivision 9- these will
be the last of the strongest teams set to perform on the second
day of the Qualifications.
WOMEN’S DRAW
10 Subdivisions (including 6 Mixed Groups)
Competing on 15/16 October 2006
The GBR Team will compete as one of the last, in Subdivision
9, together with HUN, CZE and SUI and they start on Vault.
“Not a bad draw at all, but we must push ourselves
to the maximum because the Qualifications are very important
for entering Competition 2 (the Individual All-around) and
Competition 3 (the Apparatus Finals), where we hope to see
British competitors. I am confident that making top the 24
will not be a problem for our girls- they have been doing
so much better over the last years”, said Adrian Stan,
Technical Director for Women.
The new European Team Champions, ITA perform in Subdivision
1
FRA and GER – Subdivision 2
ESP and BRA- Subdivision 3
USA and AUS- Subdivision 5
ROM- Subdivision 7
RUS and BLR- Subdivision 8
CHN, UKR, NED- Subdivision 10
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