After the first day (qualification) of the world cup in Thessalonoki (Greece the favourites are leading on the apparatusses: Jordan Jovtchev (floor, Rings), Marius Urzica (Pommel horse), Dmitri Kasperovich (vault), Mitja Petkovsek (parallel bar) und Aljaz Pegan (high bar).
In women's category are on top: Natalia Ziganshina (vault), Svetlana Khorkina (uneven bars) and on balance beam the Chinese Zhang, Nan and on floor the Romanian Floarea Leonida .

POMMEL HORSE
1. Marius Urzica (ROM) 9,725
2. Nikolai Krukov (RUS) 9,500
3. Feng, Jing (CHN) 9,150
4. Xiao, Qin (CHN) 9,100
5. Alberto Busnari (ITA) 8,950
6. Kanukai Jackson (GBR) 8,950
7. Levente Fekete (HUN) 8,900
8. Christian Berzces (GER) 8,800
E1: Manuel campos (POR) 8,700
E2: Casey Sandy (CAN) 8,650

VAULTING TABLE
1. Dmitri Kasperovitch (BLR) 9,475
2. Evgeny Sapronenko (LAT) 9,325
3. Robert Gal (HUN) 9,325
4. Leszek Blanik (POL) 9,312
5. Kasper Fardan (DEN) 9,312
6. Tue Lohdahl (DEN) 9,237
7. Brandon O'Neill (CAN) 9,200
8. Anatoli Vasiliev (RUS) 9,187
E1: Patrick Dominguez (SUI) 9,125
E2: Alexei Bondarenko (RUS) 9,050

HIGH BAR:
1. Aljaz Pegan (SLO) 9,550
2. Florent Maree (FRA) 9,550
3. Alexei Bondarenko (RUS) 9,450
4. Jani Tanskanen (FIN) 9,450
5. Nikolai Krukov (RUS) 9,450
6. Alexander Beresch (UKR) 9,325
7. Roger Sager (SUI) 9,300
8. Igor Cassina (ITA) 9,250
E1: Marius Urzica (ROM) 9,225
E2: Jari Mönkkönen (FIN) 9,175

UNEVEN BARS:
1. Svetlana Khorkina (RUS) 9,425
2. Natalia Ziganshina (RUS) 9,425
3. Alina Kozich (UKR) 9,200
4. Aagjia van Walleghem (BEL) 9,175
5. Oksana Chusovitina (UZB) 9,075
6. Floarea Leonida (ROM) 9,075
7. Irina Krasnianska (UKR) 9,000
Monica Rosu (ROM) 8,975
E1: Victoria Karpenko (BUL) 8,950
E2: Ilaria Colombo (ITA) 8,900

FLOOR EXERCISES:
1. Floarea Leonida (ROM) 9,425
2. Aliona Kvasha (UKR) 9,350
3. Verona van de Leur (NED) 9,300
4. Alina Kozich (UKR) 9,200
5. Oana Ban (ROM) 9,100
6. Svetlana Khorkina (RUS) 9,075
8. Suzanne Harmes (NED) 9,025
E1: Nelly Ramassamy (FRA) 8,900
E2: Natalia Ziganshina (RUS) 8,875

The 27th Tournament of Masters in Cottbus has been a historcal moment for Africa: The 25-year-old
Raouf Abdel KARIM from Kairo is the first African gymnast in history who has obtained a World Cup victory in gymnastics. On the vaulting table ERGOJET he managed to overtake such specialists as the former European champion Leszek Blanik, Ioan Suciu from Romania or in the Winner’s Final the dynamic Russian Anton Golotsutskov.
After Mohamed Lazhari from Algeria (Tokyo 1964) and Mohamed Ibrahim (Egypt) Raouf Abdel Karim has been the first African gymnast after 36 years to take part in Olympic Games in Sydney 2000...

And now a historical first World Cup victory for Egypt.
Raouf Abdel Karim was born in Kairo and has been doing gymnastics already for 20 years now. He has three sisters and graduated from the sports institute in Kairo to be a sports teacher. His average training time is 6 times a week for three hours. The first international competiton in which he had taken part was the McDonalds-Cup in Fort Worth, Texas/USA, he had been 18 years old there. He celebrated his first major victory also on vault – 1997 at the Mediteranian Games in Italy.
Now Karim definitely wants to take part in his second Olympic Games since he has been the first African gymnast to take part in Olympic Games after Tokyo 1964. There, Mohamed Ibrahim from Egypt had taken part. “It will not be easy to compete there without a team,“ knows Raouf Abdel. He has to take his chances through the all-around, which includes his weak apparatus pommel-horse, and through the continental regulation. His victory in Cottbus, however, will remain a special one forever.
E.Herholz / Translation: Lisa Worthmann

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In December 2000 a very successful casting took place in the German capital in the Gymnastics Hall of the Berlin's Gymnastics Federation, where the former Hungarian topstar Zoltan Supola started his new carreer as an artist.
>> More information...:

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A surprise could be seen in the men`s vault final, Karim Ali Raouf Abdel won this final with two very good vaults.
The victory on parallel bars goes to Yann Cucherat from France.
In the women`s field it has been the day of Russia`s Anna Pavlova. With her elegant and beautiful routines she has won on beam as well as on floor.
In the high bar final an exciting competition between Aljaz Pegan (SLO) and Cédric Guille from France could be seen. In the end Pegan won this final.

Sucio: 1: handspring tucked double salto fw.; he opens the vault too early and falls on the landing; 2: Kasamatsu 1 1/2 turns, small step to secure the landing
Golotsutskov: 1: handspring tucked double salto fw. 1/2 turn (SV 10.00), slight problems to finish the rotation; 2: Tsukahara double twist, he has to correct the landing slightly.
Jackson: 1: handspring tucked double salto fw. 1/2 turn (SV 10.00), he falls on the landing; 2: Tsukahara, salto bw. – another fall on the landing.
Raouf Abdel:1: high and wide handspring- tucked double salto fw.; 2: Kasamatsu layout full turn; (9.70 SV), small step on the landing.
Yerimbetov: 1: Kasamatsu 1 1/2 turns, step on the landing; 2: Handspring –layout fw. 1 1/2 turns;
Blanik: The winner of the qualification shows two vaults with SV 10.00; 1: Handspring- double salto fw. piked – high but he falls on the landing; 2: Tsukahara- salto bw. piked, another fall on the landing.
Mezentsev :1: Yurchenko double twist, he stickes the landing; 2: layout Tsukahara double twist, he slightly has to correct the landing
Gal: 1: layout Kasamatsu 1 1/2 turns; 2: Handspring- tucked salto fw., too much rotation and he falls;

Winners Final
Golotsutskov doesn´t show his two vaults with SV 10.00 again. So the SV`s of the vaults from the two gymnasts in the winners final is the same. The gymnast from Egypt shows two vaults which are slightly better (his handspring- tucked double salto fw. is the best of the whole tournament). Therefore Karim Ali Karim Abdel Raouf wins this final and is celebrated by the audience.

Ludivine Furnon is the first competitor on the second day in the beam final. After she falls from the apparatus on her combination tucked salto fw. - ff - split layout bw. also her beautiful other elements can´t help her to receive a better score, she receives 8.00 points.
Daniele Hypolito starts well with her RO-split layout mount, after a short break the combination ff-ff-split layout bw. follows. She also presents a safe and high tucked salto fw. Unfortunately she then falls down on a tucked jump full turn.
Elena Gomez has more luck, she stays on the beam. After a good start with RO-split layout a good combination with salto fw. tucked - ff- split layot bw. follows. She then has slight problems on her leap 1/2 turn and tucked jump full turn. Her dismount with 2 1/2 twists is well presented.
Maria Teresa Gargaono presents an interesting routine including the combination one-armed ff- one-armed ff; front aerial; sidewards salto; 2 1/2 twists dismount. A solidly presented routine with only slight insecurities.
Oksana Chussovitina shows a good routine in her 3rd final in Cottbus incl. the combination salto fw. tucked - salto bw. tucked; salto fw. tucked - ff - split layout bw.; front aerial- ff- layout bw.; problems however at one of her pirouettes.
Fan Ye starts perfectly with a very nice combination of front aerial - ff- split layout bw.; but then she has problems with her leap 1/2 turn and falls on her double salto bw. tucked dismount.
Anna Pavlova follows with a very beautiful routine which she presents very well incl. jump 1/4 turn into handstand 1/2 turn; arabian - handspring fw. 1/2 turn; triple twist dismount with only very slight problems to stick the landing.
After she fell at this combination in the qualification, today Oana Ban presents ff- salto bw. tucked 1/1 turn very well and also the rest of the routine goes without problems; combination leap- one-armed ff- front aerial; she then stickes the landing of her ff-ff-double salto bw. tucked dismount.
Germany`s Katja Abel doesn`t have much luck today. After a fall on her RO-split layout mount and another one at the salto fw. tucked also problems at her double salto dismount follow. In the end she reaches rank 9.

In the winners final Anna Pavlova presents another good routine but not as safely as before and with some problems on her triple twist dismount. Also Oana Ban has problems, she almost falls on her ff- salto bw. tucked 1/1 turn. So it stays exciting until the score of the two gymnasts is being presented. In the end Anna Pavlova reaches the top position in this final.

Fuliang: starts at the side of the bars; Kato; two times Belle; small step to secure the landing.
Urzica : a good routine including salto between the bars full turn, small step to secure the landing.
Krylov: slight problems during the routine; but he continues well; he presents Belle and Tippelt and Healy-combinations.
Cucherat : only the mount is different, the rest of the routine is the same as could be seen at the Russian gymnast before;
Sinkevich : double salto between the bars; he has to correct one handstand.
Yerimbetov a very good and difficult routine with only slight problems on the dismount.
Zozulia : double salto bw. between the bars; 1 1/2 salto between the bars, Healy.
Petkovsek : very high straddled 1 1/2 salto but a fall from the apparatus.
Berczes : Diomidow on one bar, Tippelt, Healy, piked salto fw.; slight problems during the routine

Winners finale
Despite of a deep landing of his dismount Cucherat (FRA) wins this final against Yerimbetov (KAZ).

With only a very short break after the winners final on beam Oana Ban starts the floor final with a good double layout; followed in the next series by an arabian. At the end of her routine she steps out of bounds at her full-in.
After it had been unclear until shortly before the beginning of the competition if she starts at all, it takes three times to find the right music for Elena Zamolodchikova. Her foot injury is then also clearly visible during the routine, she has problems with the landing of all her acrobatic series, including tucked full-in and triple twist. At the end she steps out of bounds on the double salto bw. piked.
Many cheers for Daiane dos Santos for her lively routine to Brazilian music. Also the acrobatic elements work well for her today; at the beginning arabian followed in the next series by double layout; triple twist and at the end oft the routine double salto bw. picked.
Alina Kozich presents an elegant routine with beautiful forward acrobatic elements (including a good tucked double salto fw.); but then she clearly lands her triple twist out of bounds; the end of her routine with 2 1/2 twists is well presented again.
Maria Teresa Gargano shows a speedy routine started with a piked full-in; another series: whip- ff- 2 1/2 twists tucked salto fw.; she has problems in the end to stick the landing of the triple twist.
The audience is thrilled by the beautiful pirouettes of floor World champion Elena Gomez. Also her acrobatic elements are well-presented; tucked full-in; 2 1/2 twists- tucked salto fw. full turn and at the end of her routine piked double salto bw.
Anna Pavlova with the nicest choreography of this final. She receives many cheers for her beautiful ballet-like routine. Her acrobatic elements work well for her today; including tucked full in; in the second series she shows whip- triple twist (slight problems with the landing); at the end of the routine a good 2 1/2 twist.
At her 7th time in Cottbus Oksana Chussovitina receives the loudest cheers of the audience. She presents an expressive routine to music from Shakira. The routine is started with double layout followed by tucked full in. She is the only gymnast who has competed in all four finals and manages to get through her routine safely until the end.
Yvonne Musik from Germany has reached this final with a wildcard. She presents her routine solidly with arabian followed in the next series by a triple twist; 2 1/2 twist- salto fw. tucked full turn; in the end problems with the landing of her 2 1/2 twist.

In the winners final Elena Gomez starts with problems, a very deeply landed tucked full in and a fall on her 2 1/2 twist- tucked salto fw. full turn. She then presents the rest of her routine safely. Anna Pavlova presents also her second routine very well and without mistakes. Therefore the victory is clear, Anna Pavlova wins her second final today.

Grebenkov : Kovacs full turn very well presented but with a fall at his second Kovacs and also with problems on the dismount.
Istria : Stalder and double-double dismount
Pegan : four flight elements (Pegan, Tkachev 2 times, Gienger) and he sticks the landing of his triple salto dismount.
Mönkkönen : he falls of the bar on the Kovacs
Guille : a small step to secure the landing of his double-double dismount.
Zapf : falls down right at the beginning of his routine and again on the layout Kovacs.
Cucherat : Kovacs and a sticked landing of his double-double dismount.
Baldauf : only one C-element (Tkachev) as flight element, and problems with the turns during the giants; layout full-in dismount.

Winners Final
Pegan again presents a brilliant routine with 4 flight elements, he only needs one small step to secure the landing of his dismount. Guille has some problems during his routine so the victory for Pegan is clear.

The first day of finals in Cottbus has ended now and a lot of high-quality performances were presented to the audience in the venue “Lausitzhalle”. In the men`s floor final Hungary`s Robert Gal managed to take the lead in front of Roman Zozulia (UKR) who thrilled the audience with his extraordinary routine.
On pommel horse Marius Urzica (ROM) as expected present a brilliant routine and won this final. Also on rings the favourite Jordan Jovtchev (BUL) came up to the expectations and won this final in which Roman Zozulia earned another second place.
In the women`s vault final the experienced Oksana Chussovitina (UZB) added another gold medal from Cottbus to her already large collection of the previous years. On uneven bars Great Britain`s star on this apparatus Elizabeth Tweddle presented a brilliant routine which secured her the victory.

The popular Winners Finals, in which the two best participants of the finals compete against each other again, will be presented in Cottbus again . This year the winner receives 816 EUR and 12 World cup points, the second ranked gymnast 680 EUR (10 points). For the 8th ranked finalist remain 2 points and 125 EUR.

Gorbatchev: Highlights: layout Tsukhara, Thomas-combination, RO – whip - salto bw. 1 1/2 turns - salto fw. 1 1/2 turns.
Campos: first acrobatic series: salto fw. full turn followed by double salto fw.; he then fell in the second acrobatic series at his salto bw. 1 1/2 turns.
Xing: layout Tsukahara; Russian wendeswing and Thomas-combination; split-leg salto sidewards; as usually with a good technical execution
Gal: dismount: salto bw., 2 1/2 twists, salto fw., salto fw. full turn; last series double twist;
Sucio: 2nd series: salto bw. 2 1/2 turns, followed by salto fw., 1 1/2 salto fw. rolled out; slight problems with the Swiss handstand; dismount: tucked Tsukahara;
Zozulia: he starts with a layout Thomas, 2nd series salto fw. full turn, double salto fw.; dismount: double salto bw.; he competes in the German gymnastics league for the club SC Cottbus and earns a lot of cheers from the audience;
Vyoral: at the beginning problems with the salto bw. with 1 1/2 turns; 2nd series: salto bw. 2 1/2 turns, followed by salto fw., 1 1/2 salto fw. rolled out; at the end double twist and he stickes the landing.
Sapronenko: the title holder of last year also has the combination salto bw. 2 1/2 turns followed by salto fw. 1 1/2 turns rolled out; layout Thomas, major problems with one handstand, therefore he can`t defend his title.
Ziesmer: the gymnast from Cottbus is welcomed cheerfully by his home crowd, he starts with 2 1/2 twists, salto fw., salto fw. full turn; Swiss handstand – also he has problems here; altogether a solid performance.

While Robert Gal only made one small step to secure the landing of his first acrobatic series, Roman Zozulia fell on his double salto fw. Through this the gold medal went to Robert Gal and he was celebrated by the about 1,400 spectators in Cottbus.

Monica Rosu from Romania is the first competitor in the women`s field today. She starts with two good, although not totally perfect executed vaults (Yurchenko double twist and layout Tsukahara 11/2 twists).
Oksana Chussovitina (UZB) starts with a very good handspring – salto fw. piked full turn and also the second vault layout Tsukahara 11/2 turns is well presented.
Anna Pavlova (RUS) presents a good Yurchenko double twist which earns her the score of 9,387, she then also sticks the landing of her second vault RO 1/2 turn on – layout 1/2 turn.
The elegant Alina Kozich (UKR) has problems to stick the landing of her RO 1/1 turn on – salto bw. piked off and again some slight problems with her RO 1/1 turn on – salto bw. piked.
Betty Dupin from France presents to solid vaults. She starts with RO 1/1 turn on – salto bw. piked off, her second vault Yurchenko 1/1 turn lacks a bit of difficulty.
Yvonne Musik (GER) has to make several steps in order to secure the landing of her first vault RO 1/1 turn on – salto bw. piked off. Also with her second vault handspring - salto fw. piked 1/2 turn she has some problems.
Nikolina Tankoucheva from Bulgaria starts with RO 1/1 turn on – salto bw. piked off which she presents solidly but not perfectly executed. Her second vault is Tsukahara 1/1 turns which she shows solidly.
Brazil`s gymnastics star Daniele Hypolito starts with RO 1/2 turn – salto fw. piked 1/2 turn which she presents well. Also on her second vault handspring – salto fw. piked 1/2 turn she sticks the landing.

In the winners final two different generations of gymnasts compete against each other, the experienced Oksana Chussovitina from Uzbekistan and the young Russian gymnast Anna Pavlova.
Chussovitina again presents the handspring – salto fw. piked full turn even better but then has to make a step to secure the landing of her second vault. Anna Pavlova starts well with only slight problems of the landing of her double twisting Yurchenko but she then fells on her second vault. That was the decision in the first women`s final in Cottbus this year. The audience in Cottbus celebrates the victory of Oksana Chussovitina in this final.

Sucio:dismount through handstand from flanks on one pommel with full turn.
Liang: a very good and technically brilliant routine.
Beresh:good work on one pommel but at this early date in the year not back in his usual form.
Urzica: The pommel horse specialist begins with Sivado-combinations and also the rest of the routine is perfect as usual – the audience is thrilled.
Fekete: a good routine but slight problems on the handstand at his dismount.
Zapf: the German participant in this final presents a solid routine but it is not enough to reach the winners final.
Berki: a good routine but his flanks are not presented with the same speed and quality as can be seen in the routines of the best gymnasts.
Gorbatchev: he falls from the apparatus.

Winners Final:
After the Chinese gymnast falls from the apparatus the victory for the pommel horse star Marius Urzica is easily secured.

Daiane Dos Santos starts this final with a lot of power and speed, including some full turns on the upper bar and a straddled Jaeger, she has however slight problems with the form of her legs sometimes and with one handstand on the lower bar.
China`s Tiantian Wan starts well with a good piked Jaeger but then falls of the apparatus on a giant.
The young Ukrainian Alina Kozich will certainly belong to the stars on this apparatus in future. She pleases the crowd with a perfectly and beautiful routine including straddled Jaeger, Stalder, a full-turn on one arm on the upper bar and a double-double dismount (with a sticked landing).
Oksana Chussovitina again has a full program in Cottbus. Uneven bars is not her specialist apparatus but she presents a good routine without mistakes, including eagle swing, Tkatchev and a double-double dismount.
Elizabeth Tweddle (GBR) showes once again that she belongs to the best gymnasts of the World on this apparatus. She presents her difficult routine including a very good Gienger, Markelov and a one-armed giant very well and sticks the landing of her Tsukahara dismount.
Maria Teresa Gargano from Italy goes into her routine with a lot of speed but not with that much difficulty for the start value. However, she presents it well (straddled Jaeger, Tkatchev) and sticks the landing of her tucked Tsukahara.
Elena Gomez goes into this final with a very good presentation of the qualification. Today however she has slight problems with a Stalder but manages to continue the routine well and shows a good and high Tkatchev and straddled Jaeger. She sticks the landing of her triple twist dismount but has slight problems to finish the third rotation.
Ye Fan from China has more luck than her teammate before. She stays on the apparatus and presents a good and difficult routine including a few Stalders, piked Jaeger and a Tsukahara dismount.
Birgit Schweigert has reached this final with a wildcard as ninth participant. Today she didn`t have much luck on her usually best apparatus. She falls during her usually safely presented Shaposhnikova and has another break in her routine during one giant.

Alina Kozich took the break caused by a show performance after the final to recover well and started with full power into her routine in the winners final. She again presents a technically brilliant routine with a lot of speed with only slight problems on one handstand on the lower bar. Also Elizabeth Tweddle has enough strength to present her routine again with the full program including 2 flight elements and a one-armed giant. She shows it faultlessly until a perfectly sticked landing and this secures her the victory on uneven bars today.

Kasparovich: With all strenght elements which are necessary but not with the same sovereignty as in the routines of the rings-specialists.
Tambakos: Asarjan to cross hang, and also the rest of the difficult routine is very well presented. He then sticks the landing of his double layout dismount.
Jovtchev: As expected a brilliant routine with great strength elements, he also sticks the landing of his Tsukahara dismount.
Kurbanbaev: a good routine but he has to slightly correct a few elements.
Zapf: the German finalist presents a solid routine, he has to secure the landing of his double layout dismount with a small step.
Mezentsev: another good routine in this high-quality final.
Berczes:his strenght elements are not yet sovereign enough and he has to secure the landing of his double layout dismount with a step.
Zozulia: his interesting and well-presented combinations secure him a spot in the winners final.

Winners Final
Zozulia presented another strong routine but Jovtchevs strength element have been even better in the winners final than in the final. This finally brought him the victory.

The qualification at the 27th Tournament of Masters in Cottbus has ended now. Most of the participants – altogether 44 - started on pommel horse, the least participants started on women’s vault (21). This qualification on vault was won by Oksana Chussovitina.
Elizabeth Tweddle (GBR) took the lead on uneven bars in the qualification.
As expected, the pommel horse World and Olympic champion Marius Urzica (ROM) has reached the first place in the qualification on his specialist apparatus (9.712) followed by fellow gymnast Ioan Suciu and Stephan Zapf (GER). Roman Zozulia (UKR) on floor and Jordan Jovchev on rings will go into tomorrow’s finals as best gymnasts on floor and rings each.

Results
Qualification men
Qualification women

Women -vault and uneven bars
Already at the beginning it became interesting for the audience: Olympic champion Yelena Zamolodchikova (RUS) – she fell on her first vault. For a while Daniele Hypolito from Brazil took the lead. Title holder Elizabeth Tweddle (GB) presented her uneven bars routine very well and Junior European champion Anna Pavlova from Russia showed a technically brilliant and beautiful uneven bars routine. She reminded the audience a bit of the legend on this apparatus Maxi Gnauck.
One of the best apparatus of Oksana Chussovitina (UZB) is vault, the experienced gymnast performed her vaults with a lot of power. Right after her started Anna Pavlova and it was interesting to compare those two different kinds of gymnasts. Anna had won the vault final at the World Cup in Paris, she certainly is one of the future stars of gymnastics.

Men - vault, parallel bars, high bars
In the second part of the qualification several high-quality vaults could be seen in the men`s qualification. The Polish World championships silver-medallist Leszek Blanik tried the very difficult handspring- double salto fw. piked and secured himself the first place. As usually with a lot of speed and quick rotations Kanukai Jackson from Great Britain once again pleased the audience with his very clean handspring- double salto fw. tucked. After the first successes of Egypt on rings could already be seen in recent years, here in Cottbus Raouf Abdel Karim Ali surprisingly reached the final with two clean vaults (handspring- double salto fw. tucked and Tsukahara double twist).
On parallel bars Yernar Yerimbetov from Kazachstan secured himself the first place with a difficult and clean routine. Also Mitja Petkovsek from Slovenia and Marius Urzica from Romania presented good routines and reached the ranks 2 and 3.
In the high bar qualification many falls from the apparatus could be seen. Aliaz Pegan from Slovenia, however, presented his beautiful and difficult routine very well, including his “Pegan” and a triple salto dismount. For this routine he received the score of 9.675 and reached the first place. France once again presented itself as a nation with very good high bar gymnasts, Cédric Guille and Yann Cucherat ended up on rank 2 and 3. With a solid and well-presented routine Germany´s Stephan Zapf reached the final on rank 4.

Last weekend took place the traditional 20th anniversary of 'Day of Artistic Gymnastics' in the German center Niederwoerresbach. In was also a hearty met of the former worldstars of artistic gymnastics Larissa Klimenko-Petrik, Olympic champion on floor 1968 in Mexico-City and the silver medalist (vault) Erika Zuchold from Leipzig. The reason was the opening of an exhibition of the painter Erika Zuchold. Larissa and her husband Victor Klimenko, Olympic Champion 1972 (Munich) are working as coaches in Niederwoerresbach/Germany

Brett McClure ascended the top of the podium last Friday at the Men's Winter Cup Challenge, held at the Las Vegas Sports Center in Las Vegas/Nev. His score of 54.950 points in the first session held up through the second session of competitors, with Jason Gatson taking top honors in the second session and second place overall with 54.450 points.

INTERNATIONAL GYMNAST reported, that U.S. champion Tasha Schwikert, who underwent surgery in December, performed on four events this past weekend at the Vegas Cup.

Schwikert, a 2000 U.S. Olympian and the 2001 and 2002 national champion, missed last year's World Championships due to a lingering leg injury. The American Cup champion of 2002 plans to defend her title this year on March 1st this year.

Irish Gymnastics is seeking to appoint a National Development Officer to prepare and develop new Strategic Plan. This is a new position within the Irisch Gymnastics Federation. Applicants should preferably have a sound knowledge of all aspects of the various disciplines of gymnastics.

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