.... Candidates for the Olympics presented:Sascha PALGEN starts for Luxembourg in Beijing

Sascha PALGEN (LUX)

For the first time after 44 years, a gymnast from Luxembourg will participate in the Olympic Games!
On August 15th, when the gymnastics competitions in Beijing are taking place, Sascha PALGEN from Rümlingen will celebrate his 24th birthday in Beijing.
Twenty years before his birth, in 1964, gmynastics legend Josef STOFFEL accomplished his 5th participation in Olympic Games as the last Luxembourger. He therewith hold a record, which could only broken by husky Jordan JOVTCHEV from Bulgaria, if he participates in Beijing....
<< The sympathetic young gymnast is conscious of this kind of historical dimension. GYMmedia met him in the KunstturnForum Stuttgart ....

Focus on strength and learning training

Preparations for the Olympics in Swabia
Per agreement between the Luxembourger gymnastics federation and the Swabian federation, Sascha Palgen trains in the group of the former Cottbus-coach Gunter Schoenherr, together with the German Olympic candidates Robert Juckel, Marcel Nguyen and Thomas Andergassen.
"That's makes a lot more sense, since the conditions here could not be better", says the gymnastof the club "Etoile Rumelange" (Rümlingen) from the south of Luxembourg.
After the athletic conditioning, the phase from learning to exercise training is accomplished step by step.
On the floor, the gymnast has already added contents compared to last year: The "Hypolito", that is a double twist ducked with a whole twist is included in the first line of the floor exercise (half a point more in the basic score!) and on the horse, he added a 360°-turn in the beginning ("Son") ...

"There remains a lot to do on parallel bars and high bar...", says Sascha, who wants to accomplish his first competition in the World cup in Cottbus in April and wants to do the second, important step towards Beijing one month later in Lausanne at the European Championships.

Josef Stoffel (LUX) at the new vaulting table 'PEGASES' at its Worlds-premiere in Belgium

Of course he knows Josef STOFFEL, the 80-year-old gymnastics legend from Luxembourg.
He participated in all five olympic Games between 1948 (London) and 1964 (Tokio) and was vice European Champion on vault of the first European Championships in the history of gymnastics in 1955 in Frankfurt (Main), together with the later (1956) Olympic Champion Helmut Bantz and behind the champion Adalbert Dickhut from Germany...
... and with 36 years Josy Stoffel accomplished his 5th Olympic Games in Tokyo!
When he examined the Worlds-Premiere in Ghent 2001, the new vaulting table "Pegases" , he said then at the age of 73: "That is something - one had to be 50 years younger again",
... as old as his successor, Sascha Palgen, today!

Coach Manfred DIEHL; Sascha Palgen

<< Sascha PALGEN, who has been trained by Manfred DIEHL to become a worldclass gymnast from the age of 8 on, owes a lot to the experienced coach from Germany.
After Easter, Manfred Diehl will come to the KunsturnForum to Stuttgart for three day , to check if everything's alright!

Sascha already sees his biggest success in the Olympic qualification as individual starter at the Worlds 2007 in Stuttgart (50th, all around):
"My goal for Beijing is to reach the all around final if possible!".

Sascha as 17-year-old at the GWG-Cup in Cottbus

As a junior gymnast, he was 15th in the all around competition of the continental championships 2002 in Patras, which points at a balanced and multi-faceted basic training. Two years later, in his elite-debut in Ljubljana, he became 17th in the all around competition.
At World cups in Gent last year and in Cottbus the year before he performed in the floor finals.
He is acquainted with Cottbus since being a youngster, due to his regular participation in the first-class quality International GWG-Cup.
2005 he had to refrain from the participation in the European Championships in Debrecen: He had broken a cervical in a tumble on his head - the tragic tumble of Ronny Ziesmer short before the Olympic Games 2004 was still present -
.... - but Sascha was lucky and escaped a graver injury.

Now, his Olympic dream is supposed to fulfill in faraway China.
The World cup in Cottbus in April will be almost a home match for him.
(c) Eckhard Herholz; GYMmedia
Translation: Janka Schmeisser