Notice: This text is Half I of a 3-part collection
Half II: 2009-2017
Half III: 2002-2008
The European Championships has the excellence of being probably the most historic competitors in girls’s gymnastics after the World Championships and Olympics. This specific occasion has been related to a few of the most compelling moments within the sport. On the 1967 European Championships Vera Caslavska recorded the primary Excellent 10 in a serious competitors. In 1975 Nadia Comaneci made her senior debut on the European Championships which gave delivery to the Romanian dynasty and popularized the “little woman” period of gymnastics. Then there was the enduring rivalries with incidents similar to Daniela Silivas humiliating the Soviets in Moscow by taking gold on all however one occasion on the 1987 European Championships.
For many years the European Championships was a contest so tough to win, that profitable it might all however assure success within the extra high-profile occasions such because the Olympics and World Championships. The attract of the European Championships made it a “must-win” competitors for everybody. The legends of Chilly Warfare period gymnastics, most of whom nonetheless high the all-time medal counts even to at the present time usually worth the gold medals they gained on the European Championships as amongst probably the most important wins of their profession.
However then got here the Nineties and as communism fell in Japanese Europe, the stability of energy in girls’s gymnastics shifted away from Japanese Europe together with it. China and the US would see probably the most fast features, whereas in the long term applications similar to Brazil, Japan, and Canada would discover their place significantly improved. Western Europe additionally noticed important progress and it’s now the norm for the area to win medals regularly. One thing that not often occurred throughout the Chilly Warfare.
Even after the autumn of the Berlin Wall, gymnasts similar to Svetlana Khorkina, Gina Gogean, Lilia Podkopayeva, and Svetlana Boginskaya have been capable of preserve the legacy of the European Championships. The correlation the place success on the European Championships would virtually all the time end in main success on the World Championships and Olympics remained firmly in place. In each 1992 (Tatiana Gutsu) and 1996 (Lilia Podkopayeva) the Olympic All-Round Champions have been reigning European Champions.
However within the early years of the twenty first Century the demographic modifications overtaking girls’s gymnastics would ultimately meet up with the European Championships. It wasn’t that All-Round winners on the European Championships are now not succesful gymnasts, they’ve been extraordinarily unfortunate.
This isn’t a narrative of Europe’s fall from grace, however the uncommon development the place gymnasts who win the All-Round on the European Championships steadily go on to expertise one of many worst stretches of their careers within the months afterwards. Most notably, three of the final 4 All-Round Champions on the European Championships can be pressured to withdraw from the very subsequent World Championships as a result of harm.
Since 2002 there have been 12 completely different gymnasts who’ve gained the European All-Round (AA). Although ten of those gymnasts have medals on the World Championships and Olympics, solely three of them managed to win a medal in the identical yr they gained the European AA. Within the final 20 years Vanessa Ferrari and Aliya Mustafina are the one gymnasts to have gained a medal in a person occasion on the World Championships in the identical yr they have been topped European AA Champions.
Asia D’Amato (2022)
Asia D’Amato received off to a robust begin on the European Championships. First, she led Italy to a gold medal within the staff competitors, then she gained a gold medal for herself within the All-Round. Subsequent was Occasion Finals and her first equipment was vault. On her final vault run Asia virtually caught the touchdown and appeared completely balanced, earlier than falling down and clinging to her ankle in ache. D’Amato managed to win a silver medal for the efficiency, however it had costed her all the pieces else.
Asia D’Amato would miss the remainder of the European Championships together with the 2022 World Championships as she continues to get well from her harm.
Viktoria Listunova (2021)
On the 2021 European Championships Viktoria Listunova made her senior debut and immediately gained the All-Round. In that second the younger Listunova proved she may cling with the adults and lots of marveled at her future potential. In ground finals on the European Championships Viktoria considerably underperformed, however few thought something of it and the incident was dismissed as a mix of an inexperienced gymnast together with unhealthy teaching. The upcoming Olympics can be Vikoria’s subsequent proving grounds.
On the Tokyo Olympics Listunova had a robust qualifying rating within the All-Round (sixth). However 2-per nation limits left her ineligible to compete regardless of Listunova’s standing as a robust contender for a medal. Listunova had an opportunity for redemption in ground finals, however just like the European Championships as soon as once more she considerably underperformed. This time Listunova’s struggles may now not be dismissed as a one-off, however a longtime sample the place the younger 1st-year senior was struggling to maintain herself mentally composed within the later days of a serious competitors.
Younger gymnasts like Listunova are usually within the World Championships since they’re held later within the yr. This offers 1st-year seniors extra time to discover ways to mentally modify to the larger stage. However Listunova would miss the 2021 World Championships as a result of harm. When Russia invaded Ukraine in early 2022, as a Russian gymnast Listunova was ineligible to compete on the 2022 European Championships and 2022 World Championships.
Listunova’s profession is at present on maintain as she is unable to compete in any main competitors, and even the overwhelming majority of minor competitions as properly. The ban on Russian athletes stays in impact for the foreseeable future. Listunova’s eighth place end on ground on the 2021 Olympics is at present her final look in a Group-1 competitors.
Melanie De Jesus Dos Santos (2019)
On the 2017 European Championships Melanie De Jesus Dos Santos made her senior debut and gained a bronze medal within the AA. Melanie would comply with up that success with a fifth place end on the 2017 World Championships and a sixth place end in 2018. Nonetheless thought of a newcomer to the scene, followers have been excited to observe Dos Santos’ profession and all indicators pointed to her being on an upward trajectory.
Then on the 2019 European Championships Dos Santos improved upon her earlier efficiency by profitable a gold medal within the AA and changing into a European All-Round Champion. Throughout AA {qualifications} on the 2019 World Championships Melanie took third place and gave the impression to be properly positioned to win a medal. However destiny would produce other plans. Dos Santos struggled in AA Finals and completed in twentieth place.
Melanie continues to be ready for her first medal on the Group-1 Stage (World Championships and/or Olympics). At the moment she is without doubt one of the few European AA Champions to have ever gone medal-less on the Group-1 stage. She has certified to Occasion Finals on 4 events however has not but reached the top-4 of the ultimate standings. Since 2017 Melanie has certified to AA Finals in each competitors she attended on the Group-1 stage. Nonetheless, on the 2021 Olympics she completed eleventh whereas on the 2022 World Championships she was pressured to withdraw from AA Finals as a result of harm.
The best accomplishment of Melanie De Jesus Dos Santos’s profession is certainly her AA title on the 2019 European Championships. However the 2019 World Championships from the exact same yr is the worst AA efficiency of her profession. It’s merely a wierd coincidence that these two competitions occurred in the identical yr.
