RG Olympic Test Event - Sydney
Congratulations to the winners of the AA Final:
- Alina Kabayeva
RUS (39.791)
- Youlia Raskina
BLR (39.749)
- Irina Tchachtchina
RUS (39.699)
The Rhythmic test event for the Olympics was held at the Sydney SuperDome on the 26th-27th February 2000. The event was used to test out new systems and procedures for the Olympic games to be held later this year and to give the gymnasts a chance to compete in Australia on an Olympic podium.
In the preliminary round, the podium caused trouble for a few gymnasts. Anna Bezsonova from the Ukraine was the first to loose her apparatus off the podium and finnished with out her apparatus with a score of 9.274. In a roll across her arms, Youlia Raskina lost her hoop off the podium but was able to jump down, retrieve the hoop, them climb back up again to finnish her routine with a score of 9.316. Alina Kabayeva also dropped the hoop in her first routine, having to travel approximately 4 metres to retrieve it. The start of her routine looked a little shakey, and she scored a generous 9.883.
Elena Vitritchenko had some beautiful performances - especially with ball. She has new rope and ribbon routines since the 1999 Worlds with a few small execution deductions in rope. Overall she seems slightly underscored - especially in her ball and hoop routines. She was performing at the same standard as she was at the 1999 would championships, but was scored lower than most of the other top gymnasts. It seems that the judges are rewarding the the routines with speed and fast apparatus handling, over the routines which are more slow and balletic.
Irina Tchachtchina from Russia also had some great routines - especialy ribbon which was extremely lively. Irina has fantastic leaps and gets good extension and height - especially on her switch leg split leap. Irinas team mate and current world Champion, Alina Kabayeva, was a crowd favourite. Her routines were fast, fun and intricate. It was refreshing to see a gymnast smiling and looking like she was having fun in her routines when so many of the other gymnasts looked very serious. Kabayevas leaps were fantastic, mainly becuase of her great range of flexibility. Although some of her scores seemed a little high, she definatly deserved her victory and looks to be the favourite for winning gold at the Olympic games.
Eva Serrano from France had many Fantastic Performances with beautiful choreography. In the preliminaries she scored three 9.90s and was ranked in 3rd place. In the finals she unfortunatly dropped her ball off the podium, relegating her to an 8th place finnish. Dispite her result, Eva is definatly a contender for an Olympic medal in Sydney later this year.
Tamara Yerofeva from the Ukraine was another top performer, with an absolutly beautiful hoop routine. Her walkpver where she kicks the hoop into the air with her foot, then does a forward roll to catch was a definate crowd pleaser.
Bree Robertson and Danielle Leray were Australia's top gymnasts. Danielle Lerays routines were stunning, and have improved from last year - she now has much faster routines keeping in sync with the current European style. A drop in her ball routine (off the floor) in the last rotation of the preliminaries kept her from gaining a place in the final. Bree Roberton's routines featured some unusual choreography and great technical skill. One of her strengths is her abilty to adapt different styles, from cute and fun, to balletic and elegant. Much to the delight of the Aussie crowd, Bree was chosen to represent Australia in the Finals.
Its interesting to note that when the Olympics take place, the scores will be delivered in real time on the internet. This means that the score will display on the internet at the same time it is displayed on the score board in the Arena! Another thing to note is that The SuperDome is where the Artistic Gymnastics will be held, but not Rhythmic. RG will be held at Olympic park, in one of the sports pavilions.
Photographs by Suzie Haslam
