It's only the beginning

The last time the Russians entered the world forums in team exercises was only in 1999! Seven years ago, in China, a team led by Alexei Nemov won silver medals. But today the rules of the competition have changed, and, most importantly, the men's team is not at all like the old one - a model seven years ago. Nevertheless, the guys managed to create a mini-sensation.

Maxim Devyatovsky, Nikolay Kryukov, Dmitry Gogotov, Sergey Khorokhordin, Alexander Safoshkin, Yuri Ryazanov in the team competition ahead of the Olympic champions of Athens - the Japanese team - and only China, the leaders of world gymnastics, were allowed to advance. Moreover, at one moment we were completely a step away from gold. Before the fifth round, our team was in the lead, 0.6 points ahead of the Chinese, but the fall of Dmitry Gogotov from the crossbar allowed the opponents to break ahead. Without waiting for our last exit on the carpet, the Chinese began to celebrate the victory, because their superiority was unattainable. Our guys, on the whole, openly failed the floor exercises, where they took the last, eighth place.

“Yes, we lack stability, but for this we came to this championship to evaluate our programs against the background of others,” Andrey Rodionenko, head coach of the Russian national gymnastics team, told reporters. More than a year ago, he agreed to accept an almost adventurous proposal, replacing the experienced Leonid Arkaev at this post. However, now we can say for sure: at a crisis time the team fell into the right hands.

The Russian women's team was also surprised: Elena Zamolodchikova, Kristina Pravdina, Svetlana Klyukina, Polina Miller, Anna Pavlova, Anna Grudko. Girls managed to cope with emotions and confidently won bronze. On the eve of training, Julia Lozhechko injured two fingers on her hand, and the championship for one of our leading gymnasts ended. But the performances of teammates pleased Julia. The Russian team for a long time was fourth, and only the last kind of program - a vault - brought the athletes to third place.

So, the main goal of our team’s stay in Aarhus has been achieved - we are in the ranking of the 12 best teams. And now, in order to win a ticket to the Beijing Olympics, at the next world championship, you must enter the top six.

When it's not too late to change your mind

The Chinese team received 8 of the 14 gold awards in Aarhus. This is an amazing superiority! And very dangerous before the Beijing Olympics. At the world championships, the Chinese constantly brought a strong team with good programs, which for unknown reasons capitulated at a crucial moment. This flaw has now been fixed. Chinese gymnasts managed to win the first team victory in history. Who would have thought - they surpassed the Americans who had been leading in recent years ... They went from shell to shell accurately, offering sophisticated programs with imaginative choreography, and this compares favorably with the men's team, which made a number of mistakes, but regained the title of strongest after three of the year. The Chinese men's team became the world champion in 1999 and 2003 and won the Olympics in 2000, but in Athens lost to the Japanese team. However, even in the two years remaining before the 2008 Games, before meeting in Beijing, the superiority of the Chinese does not seem unattainable. “This is our first step towards the 2008 Games,” said Huang Yubin, head coach of the Chinese team. “Now we will focus on stability, since we cannot afford mistakes if we want to win gold.” We took a team of many young gymnasts who are mistaken. "

The main character of the championship was veteran Yang Wei. In addition to the team award, the 26-year-old gymnast received two more gold medals, including the main one in the all-around. The most amazing thing is that before this championship the Sydney Olympic medalist thought that he had exhausted himself and was going to leave the sport. But now he has an incentive to prepare for the home Olympics in Beijing.

The owner of three gold medals was the 18-year-old Chen Fei - she had no equal in the vault and floor exercises.

Nemov's syndrome

The instability of performances in Aarhus, including the winners, many explain the new rules. They were introduced in order to simplify the assessment of the performance of gymnasts. Until recently, sports gymnastics in the number of scandals resembled artistic. The biggest incident, of course, was the story of Alexei Nemov in Athens.

However, now a team that does not agree with the assessment may file a protest. It will be immediately examined using a video replay system. The performance of each gymnast is recorded on video and immediately transmitted to the monitor of each of the referees. Thus, the assessment becomes open and understandable to all competitors. This system was first applied last year at the European Championships. Then the judges suffocated in a heap of accepted protests, because of which the competition was greatly extended in time. In Aarhus, this “pleasure” was paid. So, in order to file the first protest, the team must pay $ 300, the second - $ 500 and the third - $ 1000. If the team is right, then the money will be returned to her, otherwise they will be allowed to charity.

However, this measure did not stop the flow of protests. For example, the Canadian team filed three lawsuits at once in qualifying competitions. Two of them were rejected, and one was satisfied. Coach Tony Smith and his assistants prepared not only for the sports "battle", but also for the clerical - since the protest is accepted immediately after the end of the competition, the Canadians, in order not to lose time, filled out the necessary forms in advance.

Several incidents happened with the judges. They had to admit that they incorrectly calculated the score in the qualifying competitions of the Chinese men's team. And although this did not affect the balance of power, it became obvious: the system is not so objective.

This also explains the fact that the three powers won world victories for the first time. Among them is Italy, whose representative 16-year-old Vanessa Ferrari became the absolute world champion. Upon learning about this, the Romanian coach Nicolae Forminte did not file an expensive protest, but attacked the judges and then provoked a scandal at a press conference.

For son's sake

We note one more curious fact. If it weren’t for Oksana Chusovitina, it would hardly have been possible to imagine that with modern requirements, one can remain in gymnastics until such a respectable age of 31 years! A gymnast born in 1975 still continues to perform on a par with those who are two times younger than her. Moreover, Chusovitin is by no means a statistician. The gymnast who defends the colors of Uzbekistan regularly brings medals from major competitions. At the last world championship in 2003, she received a gold medal in the vault. This time, Chusovitina became the third in her crown form of the program. True, the medal belongs to another country - Germany. The gymnast’s change of citizenship, as well as her athletic longevity, however, has its own explanation - her son’s illness. In 1997, the gymnast married wrestler Bakhodir Kurbanov and a year later became a mother, her son Alisher was born. In 2002, her four-year-old child fell ill with leukemia, and his mother got him admitted to a clinic in Cologne. There, according to the mother, the child was saved. Now the threat to the boy’s health was over, and sometimes he even practices in the gym.

In addition to the bronze medal of Chusovitina, Germany received two similar awards at the World Cup by Fabian Hambuchen. But this series will be continued, since Chusovitina herself feels a huge material and emotional debt to Germany.

World Gymnastics Championships

Denmark, Aarhus. October 14-21. Team competition

Men

1. China - 277.775 points. 2. Russia - 275,400. 3. Japan - 274,800.

1. China - 182,200 points. 2. USA - 181,350. 3. Russia - 177.325.