After twelve years she´s back

Ivana Kovacova competed in the world gymnastics championships in Stuttgart 2007. Now she’s back as a member of the social media team. Here’s her story.

Ivana, can you tell us something about yourself?

The most difficult topic is always to say something about yourself. 🙂 In short, I am a former Olympian gymnast from Slovakia, now living an ordinary life, enjoying sport as a hobby.

What are you doing right now?

I am working in IBM as an application support specialist. After my gymnastic career I had to decide my next step. I keep training kids in a gymnastics centre in Bratislava and organising great trips to Stuttgart!

What was your favourite apparatus?

I have always enjoyed uneven bars. It was my strongest discipline and It had a very special meaning for me. When the routine on bars went fine it was a happy day, and vice versa.

What are your memories about Stuttgart 2007? What did you like the most?

Of course, I have memories here in Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle. I remembered how my heart was beating when I entered the hall. I was 15 years old, and it was my first World Championships. My family was there, and I really wanted to perform the best I could.

How did your competition go in 2007 – did you qualify to the Olympics in Beijing?

I made some mistakes in my routines, which moved me just under the line. I ended up as a first reserve. It´s difficult to describe the disappointment I felt. I was 15 and so angry with myself that I didn’t do the routines perfectly. However, half a year later I received a call from the gymnastics federation that the place is mine. Somebody from the world couldn’t make it so I was back in the game and participated in Beijing as one of the youngest gymnasts.

How is it for you to be back? But now behind the scenes and reporting instead of taking part?

It’s a great experience to see what it takes, to make a huge event like this work. As a gymnast I was very specialised, strictly followed my trainings and concentrating on the routine. You don’t see the complexity. I must say it´s very different. I really enjoy it. Maybe even more than in front of the scene!

How did you get to work at the Social Media Team at Stuttgart 2019?

Once I found out the qualification for Tokyo 2020 will take place in Stuttgart, it clicked inside my head: ´I will always regret not coming back´. A Slovak gymnast, Barbora Mokosova, who I trained with, is participating and she has a big chance to qualify. However, I checked the tickets too late and it was sold out. Fortunately, I later registered as a volunteer and became part of the social media team.

What is your favourite place in Stuttgart?

I didn’t see a lot of Stuttgart in 2007. I was almost all the time here in Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle, watching the best gymnasts in the world. I went to the Mercedes museum which I enjoyed. This year I will do more. I see there is a beer festival with plenty of rollercoasters – this I must do.

What do you like most about working in the Social Media Team?

It will probably be the teamwork, the brainstorming, putting little pieces together. Also, the atmosphere, the awareness, the present moment, to catch what is happening currently, documenting the emotions of sport. It feels very good to be part of it.

Russia take gold over China in historic victory

For the first time since the break-up of the Soviet Union, the Russian men have won the world championships team title. They beat the People’s Republic of China, who have dominated the sport for the last 20 years. 

“It is amazing, it is unbelievable that we are the gold medalists today,” said an emotional Artur Dalaloyan afterwards. “I have been dreaming about this a long time.”

The victory came down to the last event on high bar, with both teams neck-and-neck during the competition, competing alternately in the same group.

China’s first gymnast on high bar, Sun Wei, fell off the apparatus, opening the door for the Russians to move in on the victory. The last performance of the afternoon came from Russian Nikita Nagornyy, who produced a precise routine that clinched the gold for Russia.

The bronze medal was taken by the team from Japan, in a repeat of last year’s result. In fourth place was the USA, much improved from their qualification scores, followed by Great Britain, Chinese Taipei, Switzerland and Ukraine.

China were despondent with losing the gold, but Lin Chaopan was philosophical too. “Of course we are not happy with just getting silver,” he said, “but I think somehow it could act as an alert, to remind us we are not perfect.”

The bronze medal was taken by the team from Japan, in a repeat of last year’s result. In fourth place was the USA, much improved from their qualification scores, followed by Great Britain, Chinese Taipei, Switzerland and Ukraine.

The final days of the World Championships have been sold-out for a while. However safety regulations  of blocked seats have been checked again. The following statement was published now: „Due to technical alterations in the set up in the arena, we have been able to put a small amount of tickets up for sale“, Alexander Fleige, project leader of the World Championships. There will be approximately 200 more tickets per day (10th, 11th, 12th and 13th October) available for sale. Online Sale starts now.

Is Simone Biles unbeatable?

Thursday 10 October – As she heads into her fifth world all-around competition, Simone Biles of USA must be confident of adding another gold medal to her collection. After all, she qualified in top position by over 2 points – a comfortable margin, and she has won every world all-aorund competition she has been in.

Qualifying to the final in second place is Biles’ team mate, Sunisa Lee. At 16 years of age, she is a newcomer on the international stage. However she has fallen on beam twice in these championships – during qualifications and the team final.  “I let the nerves get to me,” she admits. 

Whilst it seems likely where the gold and silver will go, the big battle will be for the bronze medal. Two of the top challengers are Melanie de Jesus dos Santos of France (this year’s European champion) and the Russian, Angelina Melnikova, this year’s European Games champion.

Other names to watch out for include China’s LI Shijia; uneven bars expert, Nina Derwael of Belgium; Ellie Black of Canada; Giorgia Villa of Italy and home crowd favourite, Ellie Seitz of Germany. It will be an afternoon of entertaining gymnastics!

The competition starts at 4 pm

USA takes the title while the Chinese lose out to Italy

Tuesday 8th October – The USA clinched their fifth consecutive team world title as expected, with the highest team totals on all apparatus except uneven bars. This despite having to count a fall on beam from Sunisa Lee, and an error from Grace McCallum on uneven bars.

But with Simone Biles anchoring the team on every event, they gained ground with each rotation. Biles earned the two highest scores of the afternoon, a 15.400 on vault and 15.333 on floor.

“I stayed in bounds,” she says of her floor routine, “so that was the highlight of the night. In training I never go out of bounds. So it is kind of crazy how every time I compete it is all over the place.”

In second place were the Russians, who suffered two falls on beam but were strong elsewhere, especially on uneven bars where they had the highest team total. 

“We are happy that we have taken second place today,” said Angelina Melnikova. “It’s still quite difficult to compete with the Americans and to beat them, but we can see that the gap between the scores is much smaller than it used to be in the past.”

The bronze medal was taken by Italy who overtook the People’s Republic of China by just 0.566 points. It was an upset caused in part by falls from the Chinese gymnast, Liu Tingting on both uneven bars and balance beam.

By comparison, the Italians only had one fall, right at the end on their last beam routine. At that point they thought they had lost their medal chances, but were delighted when they saw the final scores.

“It’s good, when you have no expectation or pressure, you can just  do your best,” said Georgia Villa. “We only had one fall, when all the other teams had more than one.”

In fifth place behind the Chinese were France, who had to count some falls and errors, followed by Great Britain, Canada and the Netherlands.

Wednesday 9th October – Today‘s competition will reveal the three medal winning teams in men’s competition.

The Japanese gymnasts were able to prove their strength in the qualifying, although the squad was debilitated by the absence of Kohei Uchimura and Kenzo Shirai. The young and inexperienced team made it to third place in the qualification.

The men’s team from Russia showed the best performance in qualifications, excelling on floor and vault.  Defending world champions China were close behind. Will they be able to catch up with the Russians and grab the gold medal as they did last year?

Also in the competition are Ukraine, Great Britain and Switzerland, all of whom managed to pull ahead of the USA team in qualifying.

The real surprise of the qualifying competition was the team from Chinese Taipei. Only 19th last year in Doha, they have risen spectacularly to eighth place and their first ever team final.

However, it remains to be seen how they can cope with the format in finals. Unlike in qualifying, only three gymnasts are allowed to compete per apparatus. All three scores count, which adds huge pressure to the athletes. Who can withstand the pressure and keep their nerves under control when it counts?

Shortly before the start of the first final competition at the Gymnastics World Championships Stuttgart 2019, the organisers of the German Gymnastics Federation and Swabian Gymnastics Federation gave a half-time update on proceedings.

“We are extremely satisfied with the course of the Worlds so far, which has triggered great enthusiasm,” summarised DTB-President Dr. Alfons Hölzl. “More than 50,000 spectators attended the qualifying competitions, and we expect the same number again in the next few days at the finals. The knowledgeable and fair Stuttgart spectators will inspire the athletes with a unique atmosphere and will present a fascinating picture of gymnastics. The fact that our gymnastics team has achieved the sporting goal of qualifying for the Olympic Games for both men and women fits in with this positive interim result and is of course enormously important for our federation”.    

For the 14 titles coming up at these Worlds, the gymnasts can count on full halls. The five German finalists are appearing in seven events.

STB President Wolfgang Drexler referred to the motto of the Championships: “Our sustainable concept works to set new signs for gymnastics! The proof: 4,500 pupils from the school action day came to watch in the hall yesterday, and then actively took part next door at ‘School in Motion’. We have succeeded in conveying the fun of such positive movement experiences, which we will continue to take to schools. During our somersault action on the Schlossplatz we counted exactly 2019 somersaults yesterday from midday to 2pm!”

The third Stuttgart Artistic Gymnastics World Championships is also marked by the appreciation of the participating athletes. This includes the great response of the spectators, the incomparable atmosphere in the Schleyer-Halle and the presentation of the gymnasts, from whom you get a lot of positive feedback. In this context, the STB President presented the extraordinary medals. “Not only the most beautiful of an Artistic Gymnastics World Championships, but probably also the most technically innovative medals of all time”.

The medals, created with partner Bernd Kußmaul and minted in MintBW, are not only of extraordinary design, but they even glow when worn. The highly complex motion sensor system, which activates the unique lighting effect when the medals are moved, and also makes the ribbon glow, was installed in the smallest of spaces in the 385 gram medals.

In keeping with the sustainability efforts, the ribbon was made from recycled PET plastic bottles. The battery built into the medal can be charged via a micro-USB connection. With KUSSMAUL in overall responsibility for the medal, six other companies from the State of Baden-Württemberg were involved in the production of the unique medals for the Stuttgart 2019 Artistic Gymnastics World Championships. 

The first set of the coveted medals will be awarded this evening at the women’s team final.

STUTTGART (GER), 7 October 2019 – the second and last day of men’s qualifications at the 49th FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Stuttgart (GER), the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) officially updated the list of qualified teams and confirms the individual gymnasts who have earned a nominative place at the 2019 World Championships for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

The list has been published on the 2020 Olympic Games event calendar page on the FIG website.

On 12 and 13 October, the three highest placed eligible gymnasts in each apparatus final in Stuttgart will also book their Olympic tickets with a maximum of three gymnasts per country for all apparatus.

The specialists have another opportunity to qualify with the current Apparatus World Cup series that ends in March 2020. The four women’s and six men’s winners on each apparatus – a ranking decided by taking the best three results of each participant in the series – will be Tokyo-bound (on the condition that these gymnasts have not actively participated in the qualification of their respective teams).

There will be the possibility of gaining extra individual places for the competing countries via the 2020 All-around World Cup series – these will be available to the top three countries in this four-stage series running in March and April of that year.

The final qualifying opportunity will come at the continental championships in spring 2020 when there will be two individual places at stake for each of Africa, America, Europe and Asia and one place for Oceania. For more information on the Olympic qualification system, click here.

Top teams progress as predicted, with surprises and disappointments elsewhere

7th October – The top teams performed consistently as expected to sit at the top of the leaderboard after both days of qualifications. However there were surprises and disappointments further down the field.

Russia, China and Japan finished in the top three places, a repeat of last year’s qualification result. Ukraine, led by veteran Oleg Verniaiev, improved from last year’s ninth to finish an impressive fourth, earning themselves a spot in the team final on Wednesday.

“I am so proud of my team,” Verniaiev said afterwards. “We did not show our best routines, but we did good. We are in a good position and I am happy.”

Great Britain and Switzerland showed consistency and strength to place fifth and sixth respectively, while team USA, who started in the first subdivision of the day, struggled on pommel horse to finish seventh. Their top star Sam Mikulak fell on floor and parallel bars, but saved his best til last – a stellar routine on the high bar and a place in the apparatus finals on that event.

The big surprise in the men’s results came from a team that had performed in the very first subdivision on the previous day. Chinese Taipei, who were only 17th in Doha last year, showed a massive improvement to finish eighth, booking themselves a place in the team final as well as a ticket to Tokyo. They also have two gymnasts in the pommel horse final, and Tang Chia-Hung topped the field on high bar.

Another surprise came from the world pommel horse champion, Xiao Ruoteng of China. He fell from this apparatus and will be unable to defend his title in the apparatus finals. “I was really disappointed after pommel horse,” he said later. “This was not the performance that I expected, but mistakes happen.”

Germany ended up in 12 place, the last position available for an Olympic team berth, while Italy were in the unlucky 13th spot, missing Olympic team qualification by just over half a point. 

The team that suffered the most was the Netherlands. They reached the team final in Doha last year, but this time they struggled to keep up, and could only manage 19th place. 

Tuesday 8th October – The first medal ceremony of the championships will take place at the end of today’s competition. The USA are clear favourites to win the gold medal, but how closely will they be pushed by the other teams?

Both of last year’s medalists are also in the final – the Russian Federation and the People’s Republic of China. Their qualifications scores were very close, and not far behind were the teams from France and Canada, both finalists in Doha last year.

There are three newcomers to the final this year: the Netherlands, Great Britain and Italy, who all qualified with very close scores.

However, there is a twist in the team final – unlike qualifying, where four gymnasts compete on each apparatus and the top three scores count, the final is much tougher. Only three gymnasts compete on each apparauts, and all three scores count.

It leaves no room for error. With falls and mistakes possible for every team, anything can happen on the day. 

There is no doubt, however, who will be the star of the show. Simone Biles of the USA is expected to lead her teammates  Sunisa Lee, Jade Carey, Grace McCallum and Kara Eaker to victory. It will be spectacular.