The men’s finals showcased the specialists on each apparatus, and indeed none of the winners even participated in the all-around final. The results didn’t change much from the qualification round to the finals; vault champion Thomas Bouhail of France was the only one who did not enter the final as the leader.

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Four different gymnasts were awarded the gold medals during the women’s apparatus finals of the 2010 World Championships, held in Rotterdam last month. All-around queen Aliya Mustafina didn’t win any gold medals in finals, but she did come away from these World Championships with five medals in all and bragging rights as the only Russian lady to claim a medal after their shared team gold.

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Another World Championships has come and gone, and all is right with the (gymnastics) world! The Russian ladies (Ksenia Afanasyeva, Anna Dementieva, Yekaterina Kurbatova, Aliya Mustafina, Tatiana Nabieva, Ksenia Semyonova) finally won the team gold for the first time since the collapse of the Soviet Union. It’s hard to believe it took them 18 years to stand atop the podium, especially thinking back to the 2000 Olympic team that was jam packed with so many heavy hitters: Svetlana Khorkina, Yelena Produnova, Yelena Zamolodchikova and Yekaterina Lobaznyuk. Mustafina undoubtedly played a huge role in their win, with incredible scores on all four events. The question loomed: could she sweep all six golds?

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Poor Youna. She has had such bad luck on the uneven bars lately! First she lost a medal at the 2010 European Championships after French National Coach Eric Demay accidentally touched her while spotting her on the Def, incurring a 0.5 deduction. You can catch a clear view of this incident at 1:15.

Youna Dufournet, Uneven Bars, 2010 European Championships

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I was pleased to read that the FIG has decided to allow all three World apparatus medalists in a pre-Olympic year to be automatically guaranteed a spot in the Games. In the most recent Olympic cycle, Krizstian Berki (HUN), Yuri van Gelder (NED), and Aljaz Pegan (SLO) all had the “misfortune” of winning the silver medals on their specialties at the 2007 World Championships. Clearly contenders for Olympic gold, they were denied the opportunity to attend the Games in Beijing simply because they had not won the event and because they were not so fortunate as to represent a Top 12 team that automatically qualified 6 gymnasts.

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Russia reigned supreme at the European Championships held this week in Birmingham, England. Junior gymnasts from this country won every single gold available, with Larisa Iordache of Romania tying for top honours on the floor exercise. Viktoria Komova and Anastasia Grishina packed a 1-2 punch in the all-around, and they even managed to split apparatus golds between them. Both have loads of difficulty and a style very much reminiscent of the Soviet greats that came before. Indeed, Komova is the daughter of 1986 Goodwill Games champion Vera Kolesnikova.

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The 2010 edition marked the third time I have attended the Gymnix International and Junior Cups, and while the field was not quite as deep as in years past, it was still lots of fun for me, my sister and our friend Catherine. This year I recognized two judges, Romanian star Gina Gogean and Pam Collett of Canada, who judged me when I was a high school gymnast!

Judge Gina Gogean (ROU) Marches In

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“Shusuke Kikuchi!”…”Jad Mazahreh!”…the announcer put on some great accents as he presented the gymnasts at the second annual Montreal World Cup. Although the field was a bit sparse, there was some great gymnastics on display.

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Last week the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique made its announcement: Dong Fangxiao will have her individual Olympic results from Sydney 2000 nullified (the FIG has yet to rule on the team bronze won by China). She was found to be 14-years-old at the 2000 Olympic Games, two years short of the age requirement of 16. Teammate Yang Yun, who later admitted she was also only 14 at the time, will retain her bronze medal on bars, due to insufficient proof that she was underage.

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In October, I had the opportunity to attend the 2009 World Gymnastics Championships, held at the beautiful O2 Arena in London, England.  I attended four sessions: women’s qualifications, women’s all-around, and both days of event finals.  Gymbit has asked me to share some of my observations from the stands….

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