15. August 2004  
Olympic city Athens  
Artistic Gymnastics

Women s qualification rounds: Romania in front of USA and China

Catalina Ponor - with the highest beam score today


The Olympic Champion from 2000 Romania was the best and most consistent team during today’s team qualification. With the score of 152.436 they took the lead in front of their main competitor USA and China.

Russia, Ukraine, France, Spain and Australia also reached the final of the best 8 teams which will take place on Tuesday.

Brazil, Canada, Great Britain and North Corea followed on the ranks 9 – 12.

Pavlova - only 1 tenth behind Chorkina

Team qualification, women
 - Olympic Hall, Athens, 15-Aug-2004 -

1st GROUP: GBR, RUS, PRK and individual starters

Russia sets first mark
But the Silver medalist from the last Olympic Games, lead by Russia’s head coach Leonid Arkaev, couldn’t convince completely today. There were quite a few slight insecurities and mistakes on beam and floor which showed that they don’t like to compete in the morning. However, their lead is nonetheless deserved as well as the difference of about 3.7 points to the team from Great Britain. As expected Britain’s star Elisabeth Tweddle was their best gymnast. She currently holds the 3rd position in the all-around, about 8 tenth behind the currently leading Russians Svetlana Chorkina (37.830) and Anna Pavlova (37.710).
The gymnasts from North Corea, which surprisingly qualified for these Olympic Games at the World Championships in Anaheim, presented themselves further improved and currently hold the 3rd position in the team ranking.
It still has to be seen what e.g. the uneven bars scores of Chorkina (9.75) as well as Tweddle (9.575) and Corea’s Pyong, Kwan Suk (9.6) will be worth in the end for the final….

TEAM results, 1st subdivision:
1. RUS 149,420
2. GBR 145,797
3. PRK 144,372

Carly Patterson - already silver medalist in Anaheim's all-around!

2nd GROUP: CAN, ROM, UKR, USA and individual starters

REPORT: -- It seemed a bit like that the Olympic women’s artistic gymnastics competitions only really started with this second subdivision!
As expected this group was dominated by the battle between the equally strong teams from Romania and the USA. Romania, the Olympic Champion from 2000, has much improved especially on bars which in the past usually was a bit of a weak point for their team. On beam the Romanians then clearly dominated the field. Both Romania and USA seem to be top- fit for these Olympic Games. The Ukrainian team presented a solid but not spectacular competition, maybe they lack a bit of the “management” which other top gymnastics nations have for their teams.
The strongest all-arounder so far is Carly Patterson (USA) with the score of 38.337, followed by Nicoletta Sofronie (ROM; 38.062) and by Oana Ban (ROM; 37.975). Courtney Kupets (USA) follows on rank 4 in front of the 2 Russians Svetlana Chorkina and Anna Pavlova.
With her score of 9.625 on uneven bars Sofronie was the one who came closest to the highest score on this apparatus of Chorkina (9.750) while Catalina Ponor received the currently highest scores of the day on beam (9.775) and floor (9.687).

TEAM results after the 2nd subdivision:
1. ROM 152,436
2. USA 151,848
3. RUS 149,420
4. UKR 148,908
5. CAN 146,947
6. GBR 145,797
7. PRK 144,372

Li, Ya (CHN)
- with her 9.675 she received the 2nd- highest score for China

3rd GROUP: CHN, AUS and individual starters

REPORT: -- This subdivision started off with a true highlight: The Chinese team showed pure perfection on uneven bars. Even the high score of 9.700 for their best gymnast, LiN, Li still seemed to be much to low. Unfortunately on the other apparatus the Chinese team then didn’t manage to come up to the expectations which everyone who watched them in training during the last days had for them. There were a few insecurities on beam as well as difficulties on floor and vault. This brought them to a currently 3rd rank between the USA in front of them and Russia behind them.
Also the Australian team – the bronze medalists of the last World Championships - didn’t manage to repeat their performances from the training. With their current 6th rank they can be able to reach the final where they would have a chance to show an improved performance. However, there are still 3 teams to follow in the 4th subdivision which might overtake them on the way to the team final.
Special highlights of this 3rd subdivision were e.g. the floor routine of China’s CHENG, Fei who started with a double-double and then had a piked full-in in the 2nd row; then she presented summersault bw. – 2 1/2 twist – layout fw. and she ended her routine with a triple twist. The score of 9.650 certainly secures her a spot in the final.
A penalty of 0.5 points deduction from the team score of China because of an unauthorized remaining on the podium of one coach during their rotation on vault has been discussed but has not been confirmed up to now!

TEAM results after the 3rd subdivision:
1. ROM 152,436
2. USA 151,848
3. CHN 151,085
4. RUS 149,420
5. UKR 148,908
6. AUS 147,419
7. CAN 146,947
8. GBR 145,797
9. PRK 144,372

Emelie Lepennec (FRA)

4th GROUP: BRA, ESP FRA, and individual starters

REPORT: -- Already after the first 2 rotations it seemed likely that the teams from France – at that point on rank 6 – and Spain could reach the team final, even although the Spanish team suffered from a few insecurities during their routines today. Elena Gomez was one of the few gymnasts in this subdivision who fell from the beam (already at her RO mount). A nice routine was presented by the tiny Emilie Lepennec on uneven bars, she showed the difficult ”def“ and finished her routine with a double-double (9.662). However, she then had problems on beam with her triple twist dismount.
Too many instabilities and a lack of team consistency were the reason why Brazil didn’t manage to reach the final at their Olympic debut (rank 9). However, floor World Champion Daiane dos Santos clearly reached the floor final with her high and dynamicely presented difficulties like piked arabian, tucked arabian, double layout and a stuck double piked at the end of her routine (9.637).
From the individual starters Aagje Vanwalleghem from Belgium secured herself the 24th spot of the individual all-around final with the good score of 36.225.
TEAM results after the 4th subdivision:
1. ROM 152,436
2. USA 151,848
3. CHN 151,085
4. RUS 149,420
5. UKR 148,908
6. FRA 148,759
7. ESP 147,921
8. AUS 147,419
- qualified!
*********************************************
9. BRAS 147,345
10. CAN 146,947
11. GBR 145,797
12. PRK 144,372


Oksana Chussovitina...didn’t manage to fulfill her Olympic aim!

The Olympic career of a great gymnastics personality, the 29-year-old vault World Champion Oksana Chussovitina, came to a sad ending today. With already known knee problems she hobbled on the podium and then didn’t have the power to run at full speed for her first vault. The fall which then followed seems to have been inevitable and it is hard to explain why she even started for her second vault afterwards.
8.675 and 8.925 – these are scores which absolutely don’t represent what the World Champion normally would be able to show on this event. … A personality of the World of gymnastics like Oksana Chussovitina would have deserved a better ending for her Olympic career which now poses the question if it wouldn’t have been the responsability of her coach to prevent her from it!
Eckhard Herholz,
with the co-operation of Dieter Hofmann, Dieter Koch
- translated by Lisa Worthmann