For 26th Women's artistic gymnastics European Championships 35 countries announced their participation April 27-30 2006 in Volos (GRE).

For the Men’s European Championships, ...

The Rumanian press announced yesterday, that former national gymnastics coaches Octavian Belu and Mariana Bitang accepted the offer made by Romania's president Traian Basescu to become presidential advisors on sports related issues.
Octavian Belu accented, that it will be not a 'Good bye' to gymnastics....

Romania's President Basecu met the two former coaches of the Romanian women gymnastics team on Tuesday and offered to them a place in the team of advisors at Cotroceni Palace.
According to the presidential advisor Adriana Saftoiu, the president made the offer because 'such values should not remain isolated.'
Saftoiu also said that the president thanked the two coaches for their activity which has brought a lot of benefits for Romanian sports.
The new presidential advisor Belu said that he does not exclude the idea of collaboration with the Olympic Committee to work at the Sports Academy in Izvorani.

'This is a very complicated matter. As far as I know, according to the law, the federation is the one that deals with gymnastics in Romania,' said the president of the Romanian Gymnastics Federation, Adrian Stoica. He mentioned that the project of the Olympic body is interfering with the federation.
In a reply, the secretary general of the Olympic Committee, Ioan Dobrescu, said that the federation does not know what the project is about. 'The project of the Academy in Izvorani is not only related to gymnastics. If the people at the federation were not capable of making a project that would keep coaches Octavian Belu and Mariana Bitang in the country, then they should understand that we are going to make those projects,' Dobrescu said.
'We want to collaborate with as many big names in sports as possible in this project which is only at the beginning,' he said. The president of the federation, Adrian Stoica, said that the presidential offer made to the two coaches was 'an exceptional solution' and that is the best thing that can happen at the moment.
He said that he had also proposed for the two coaches to remain with the federation and continue their activity of supervising the teams that are to participate in international competitions but the two refused.
Romania's Olympic Committee secretary Ioan Dobrescu also said that the proposal to become presidential advisors is one that could not be refused. 'Personally I think the proposal to work at the academy and the president's can co-exist,' he said, adding that the best thing would be for the two coaches to remain in Romania.
Sources: Rumanian media

In the late 1980s and early 90s, Curtis Hibbert (CAN) flipped, bounced, vaulted and swung his way to acclaim as the best male artistic gymnast Canada has ever produced, at least until Kyle Shewfelt came along and won the country’s first Olympic medal in artistic gymnastics at the 2004 Games in Athens.

<< Curtis Hibbert won the silver madal on parallel bars at the world championships 1987 in Ronnerdam and a bronze medal on vault at the worlds 1992 in Paris....

“It takes awhile to establish yourself as a stunt man,” says the easy-going Hibbert, who retired from the national team in 1993 with six Canadian all-around titles, two world championship medals and countless other victories at major meets.
Hibbert says his gymnastics background has helped in performing many stunts although it did not necessarily make him more employable to movie producers.
“It’s almost like gymnastics where you’re competing and the judges have to get to know you.”
At 39, Curtis figures he’s just now hitting his stride in a tough business and would like to keep at it for another 10 years or so. “It’s a slow learning process,” he says. “You have to be lucky to get a big enough show that can allow you to do bigger and better gigs.”

He got started in gymnastics at seven, after his parents had tried without success, to get him interested in other sports, including soccer, basketball, baseball and swimming.
It wasn’t long before the gym became a second home. From a kid who did back flips off the back porch and tried walking home from school on his hands, Hibbert progressed rapidly to become one of the world’s top all around gymnasts.

Worlds in Rotterdam - highlight of his career!
In 1987 he became the first Canadian to win a medal at the world artistic gymnastics championships with a silver on the horizontal bar, a landmark achievement not matched until Alexander Jeltkov won silver more than a decade later in the same event at the 1999 worlds.

Soon after retiring, Hibbert opened a gym in Mississauga called 'KidsSuper Gym', which he sold three years ago. As much as he likes working with young gymnasts, his other pursuits limit his gym time to helping out former coach Masaki Naosaki at a club in Newmarket, Ont.
“I looked at coaching options but the commitment level is too great,” says Curtis, who works as a personal fitness trainer when he’s not crashing cars or falling off buildings on a movie set.

Looking back on his gymnastics career, he admits it took a little while to gain some perspective and get over the disappointment of never winning an Olympic medal.
“As an athlete you want to win an Olympic medal like everybody does, and that can warp your view of your own career if you let it,” says Curtis, who blazed a trail to three event finals at the 1988 Seoul, Olympics, but fell just shy of the podium, settling for a best-ever Canadian result of sixth on parallel bars.....

Until Shewfelt came long 16 years later, no other Canadian male artistic gymnast had ever qualified for a single event final at the Olympics, let alone won a medal.
“I was right on the cusp and that made it really tough. But ten years down the road you look at what you’ve achieved and you put it in proper perspective. Now when I look back, I’m amazed by what I did. I couldn’t have asked for a better career.”
Source: Canadian Gymnastics Federation

Like every year the traditional event of the WORLD ARTISTIC GYMNASTICS ACADEMY, the 'WOGA Classic' opened the international competition year 2006. It's the first competition this year judged by the new Code of points. Canada's Jenna Kerbis won the senior all-around (52.850), but the junior category was dominated by the Russian girls...

WOGA Classic 2006
January 14, Allen, Texas

SENIORS, All-Around
1. Jenna Kerbis CAN 52.850
2. Christine Nguyen (WOGA) 50.950
3. Izithi Hana JPN 50.850

4. Mana Ezaki JPN 50.400
5. Jessica Gazzi WAL 49.250
6. Sarah Miller NZL 49.100
7. Olivia Jobsis NZL 48.650
8. Charlotte Cosgrove WAL 48.400
9. Olivia Bryl WAL 47.600
10. Jordan Harvie CAN 47.400
11. Belinda Castles NZL 46.500
12. Rika Kurokawa JPN 45.100
13. Nana Takeda JPN 44.150

VAULT
1. Vanessa Schoelkopf (WOGA) 14.650
2. Jenna Kerbis CAN 13.960
2. Christine Nguyen (WOGA) 13.960

UNEVEN BARS
1. Alice Barnett NZL 12.600
2. Izitha Hana JPN 12.400
2. Christine Nguyen (WOGA) 12.400

BALANCE BEAM
1. Jenna Kerbis CAN 14.250
2. Jordan Harvie CAN 14.200
3. Sarah Miller NZL 13.750

FLOOR EXERCISES
1. Jenna Kerbis CAN 12.950
2. Sara Stone (Metroplex) 12.700
3. Mana Ezaki JPN 12.600

Position available as coach for the Norwegian national men's team
The Norwegian Gymnastics Federation has during the last 4 years developed a plan for a top sports project within men’s artistic gymnastics, with the goal of having at least one athlete in the all-around final in the Olympics 2016.

In accordance with this plan, we now look for a full time coach for the Norwegian national team. The coach will play a key role in implementing the project for developing the men’s artistic gymnastics:

>> ... complete Norwegian advertisement

Utah gymnastics coach Greg Marsden wrapped up his 2007 recruiting class with one of the most gifted gymnasts in the world when Daria Bijak of Germany signed a National Letter of Intent to compete for the Utes.
<< Daria Bijak from Cologne (Germany) recently placed eighth at the 2005 World Championships in Melbourne, Australia. She has accepted an invitation to compete in the Visa American Cup on March 4 in Philadelphia.
Another German gymnast in the Utah gymnastics team is Gritt Hofmann from Berlin, who will make the 'Bachelor of University Studies in Interior Design' coming spring....

Gritt HOFMANN
- Ute's member from 2002 on

- Member of German National Team from 1994-2001
- ... competed at 2001 World Championships
- ... placed first on floor, second on beam and fourth in all-around at 2000 German Championships
- ... second on vault, beam and floor at 1998 national championships
- ... 14th all-around at 1998 European Championships
- ... 1997 German all-around champion also won vault, bars and floor ... 1995 junior national all-around champion
- ... competed for Germany at European Championships in 1996, '98 and 2000
... club team Sport Club Berlin (SCB) was national team champion in 1995, '96, '97 and 2000 .
- .. trained with Sport Club Berlin (coaches Wolfgang Riedel and Heidrun Effler, same club as former Ute All-American Angelika Schatton.

WORLD sport gymnastics champion Marian Dragulescu of Romania was named top Balkan athlete for 2005 in the 33rd annual poll by Bulgarian news agency BTA. The poll covered six news agencies from Balkan countries: the Anadolu Agency (Turkey), Romania’s Rompres, TANJUG (Serbia and Montenegro), Greece’s ANA, ATA of Albania, and BTA. This was the sixth time in the history of the poll that the winner was a sports gymnast. A total of 27 athletes were nominated, representing 15 sports diciplines.
Attending the ceremony were chairperson of the Bulgarian State Agency of Youth and Sports, representatives of diplomatic missions of the Balkan countries to Bulgaria, including Romanian ambassador Mihail Rosianu, Bulgarian and foreign journalists.

During the trial, Belu admitted that he had been paid a certain sum of money by Petrovschi as a reward for helping her performance in competitions where coaches were not officially rewarded by organizers. He argued this is a common practice in sports and his statements were supported by several Romanian sports figures.
A huge scandal broke out at the time and the coaches blamed the media for accusing them of having taken bribes.
Although the subject of a preliminary investigation by prosecutors, Belu was cleared as it was decided he could not be charged with bribe taking.

Triple Olympic champion in Athens,
Catalina Ponor, remained with the team. This fall however, another scandal emerged as the coaches accused the gymnast of leaving the training base without their permission and spending the night in a club. She was accompanied by two other gymnasts of the team, Floarea Leonida and Daniela Sofronie. As a result, the federation decided to dissolve the Olympic team and the three gymnasts were sent to train with their clubs. The two coaches gave up the contracts with the federation.

The world championships 2005 in Melbourne brought only one medal for the Romanian team, and that was won by Catalina Ponor - a bronze in her favorite event, the beam.
The championships in Melbourne also meant a rearrangement in world gymnastics, as the U.S. girls swept a good part of the medals. In the men's competition however, the Romanian team did with Marian Dragulescu winning a gold medal and Ioan Suciu winning a silver medal.
Source: Bucharest Daily News

All editors and the team of GYMmedia INTERNATIONAL
wish all partners, clients, friends and all the big international GYMfamily peaceful christmas days
and a lively start into a healthful and successful New Year 2006, full of power and power and luck...!

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2006 !

One of the last events of the year 2005 was held in Moscow last week, the 12th anniversary of the 'International Voronin Cup'
It was dominated by the Japanese men's and the Russian women's teams and by the all-around winner Kouichy Watanabe (JPN) and Elena Zamolodshokova (RUS)...

Japan's Kyouichi Watanabe won the senior all-around men's competition. Teammate
Tatsuki Nakashima tied Russia's Dmitry Barkalov for second place.

In relation to the juniors events Russian technical director Andrei Rodionenko said the Russian press: 'The Japanese brought interesting kids, not yet great stars, but they impress in another way: all the gymnasts from this country surprisingly perform very exactly, showing a high enough standard. A very decent school is visible.'

Guests observing the competition included Liukin's daughter, American world champion Nastia Liukin, and Russian Olympic champion Alexei Nemov, as well as newlywed couple Lyudmila Yezhova and Georgy Grebenkov.

David Kikuchi of Halifax won the gold medal in the all around event Saturday at the Elite Canada gymnastics competition which was the first competition for the Canadian men under the new international code of points.

Kikuchi, an Olympic team member last year, totaled 173.15 points over two days of competition.
Jared Walls of the Capital City Gymnastics Club in Edmonton was second at 170.40 and Nathan Gafuik of the University of Calgary third at 170.25...

... under the old Code, yet:
Women's Canadian Nationals 2005
Aisha Gerber of Cambridge, Ont., won the war with her nerves on Friday to take the gold medal in the women’s senior all around event on Friday at the Elite Canada gymnastics competition being held at the Palais des Congr?s.
Gerber, 15, dominated the competition posting the best scores on floor, beam and uneven bars and the second best score on vault, to total 37.225 points. Gael Mackie of Omega Gymnastics in Coquitlam, B.C., was second at 35.375 and Rebecca Simbhudas of Pulsar’s Gymnastics in Newmarket, Ont., was third at 35.355.
“I was most pleased with my uneven bars,” said Gerber, a member of the Cambridge Kips Club since she was three-years-old.
“I had been having trouble getting through the routine at recent meets and that was frustrating because I could do it in training. The problem was that I would get nervous and start to doubt myself. Today I gained the confidence I needed and learned I could battle through the nervousness.”
Source canadian Gymnastics Federation

>> Women's Results, All-around // >> Women's Results, Eventfinals