25. Februar 2005  
Nassau, Long Island / USA  
Artistic Gymnastics

American Cup: Strong American Women

Specially the American women dominated the first artistic gymnastics world cup in history, which was held in the USA.
In absence of the stars from Romania and Russia three of five winners came from the host: Alicia Sacramone (vault), Chellsie Memmel (bars) and the former U.S. junior champion Nastasia Liukin, together with the Chinese top star Zhang, Nan on beam.
The only one European success went to the Spaniard Patricia Moreno (floor).
In men's category two Dutchmen surprised with three victories...

Geoffrey Wammes (NED),
best on floor and vault!

<< Nastasia Liukin's debut had been widely anticipated. Her father (Valeri) was a double gold medalist at the Seoul Olympics, her mother was the 1987 world champion in rhythmic gymnastics, and she's inherited their dazzling talents.
She ran away with the U.S. junior title the last two years, and likely would have been on the Athens Olympic team if she'd been old enough. The 15-year-old Liukin was first in prelims on both bars and beam, but she got off to a rough start Saturday. Going first on uneven bars, she fell on a release move. Throwing herself back and away from the top bar, she did a twisting somersault before catching the bar again.But she couldn't grab the bar with both hands, falling to the mat below. She scored an 8.875, finishing sixth.
Friday's Qualification Round
Americans dominated the women's competition of the 30th American Cup (Nassau Coliseum, Long Island, NY/USA), taking the top two qualifying slots in three of four events: Nastia Liukin (USA) earned held off teammate Chellsie Memmel to qualify 1-2 in both the balance beam and uneven bars finals.
Teammate Alicia Sacramone topped the list of qualifiers on vault. Other top qualifiers include Olympic bronze medalist Patricia Moreno of Spain who qualified first with a 9.475 on floor.

On the men's side the former U.S. junior champion Justin Spring (USA) qualified first to the men's high bar final .....Best on still rings and vaulting table are the two Dutchs, the specialist Yuri van Gelder, who got the highest score of the first day (9,675, rings) and the newcomer Geoffrey Wammes.
The other top gymnasts of men's qualifications were Tomislav Markovic (CRO) on floor, together with Olympic team gold medalist Hisashi Mizutori of Japan ,
Krisztian Berki (HUN) on pommelhorse and the Japanese Kazuja Ueda on parallel bars.

The 30th American Cup, to the first time a FIG World Cup competition, features more than 70 of the world's best gymnasts from 27 nations competing in an event finals only format. The top eight athletes from Friday's prelims advance to Saturday's finals. Athletes are competing for World Cup points to qualify to the bi-annual World Cup Final and for more than $46,000 in prize money.
source: us-gymnastics

R E S U L T S
>> Qualification:
Results, Women's Qualification

Results, Men's Qualification