- November 17, 2001 -

Goodwill Games 2001 - Drug Scandal
I just received a statement that Svetlana Khorkina fully supports her good friends, Alina Kabaeva and Irina Chashina, in the doping case from the Goodwill Games.

- November 15, 2001 -

Arthur Gander Memorial
There are three winners in this year's Arthur Gander Memorial, the first big meet after the World Championships in Ghent. In the men's side of the competition, Ivan Ivankov from Belerus, the all-around silver medallist in Ghent emerged top while Oksana Chusovitina from Uzbekistan, and one of my favorite gymnasts, Russia's Natalia Ziganshina, tied for first in the women's competition.

In a different format from the normal all-around competition, the women choose three out of the four apparatus to perform on and the men four out of their six apparatus.

Ivankov and Chusovitina won the special Arthur Gander Prize for the highest individual scores, with 9.400 on parallel bars and 9.125 on floor exercise, respectively.

I'm really happy for Natalia who has proved herself well, with great performances in senior competitions this year. She's not even 16 yet as her birthday is in December so I'm anticipating awesome gymnastics from her in the next few years. If her debut year is already so marvellous, who knows what results she can perform in the next few years.

Men's Results
1. Ivan Ivankov (BLR) 38.200
2. Dimitri Karbanenko (FRA) 37.800
3. Marian Dragulescu (ROM) 37.550
4. Jordan Jovtchev (BUL) 37.325
5. Alexei Bondarenko (RUS) 37.150
6. Alexander Beresch (UKR) 36.775
7. Dominik Däppen (SUI) 35.950
7. Philippe Rizzo (AUS) 35.950
9. Christoph Schärer (SUI) 35.600
10. Aljaz Pegan (SLO) 34.850
11. Damien Istria (AUS) 14.900

Women's Results
1. Oksana Chusovitina (UZB) 27.725
1. Natalia Ziganshina (RUS) 27.725
3. Silvia Stroescu (ROM) 27.625
4. Evgenia Kusnetsova (BUL) 27.475
5. Jana Komrskova (CZE) 27.325
6. Elena Zamolodchikova (RUS) 25.950
7. Jacqui Dunn (AUS) 25.750
8. Alexandra Balz (SUI) 25.600
9. Lisa Brüggeman (GER) 25.575
10. Tatiana Zharganova (BLR) 23.525

- November 14, 2001 -

Maria Zasipkina Injured
Russia's Maria Zasypkina, who was temporarily paralyzed last week in a vaulting accident, is able to move her limbs again after successful surgery performed Monday, Russian newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda is reporting.

Last Friday, Zasypkina fractured her fourth cervical vertebra during training at Russia's Round Lake training center. An operation was immediately performed to stabilize her spine, and doctors expressed cautious optimism on her outlook. Zasypkina underwent a second operation yesterday, performed under the guidance of Russia's leading specialists in spinal cord injuries at Moscow's TSITO (Central Institute for Traumatology and Orthopedics). During the three-hour-long-plus surgery, steel plates were inserted to set her spine.

Following the surgery, Komsomolskaya Pravda reports that she is again able to move her previously paralyzed hands and legs. Cautious doctors called her progress "not bad," but remained optimistic on her outlook. "The operation passed without complications," said her doctors, "and allows us to hope for full recovery."

Zasypkina, who will turn 16 on December 9, remains in the critical care unit at TSITO.

(Source: International Gymnast)

- November 8, 2001 -

Fined!!
Svetlana Khorkina might be fined by FIG for not attending some of the press conferences after her competition. There is a possibility that part of her prize money might be cut for that. I do hope not since gymnasts don't earn much and the Russian Federation takes away 70% of her prize money, leaving only 30% for the gymnast.

- November 4, 2001 -

World Championships, 2001:
A Message From Svetlana Khorkina To All Her Fans
"I am very happy with my results at the World Championships. I would like to thank all my fans and send my best wishes, as without your support, I might never have competed."

Interesting Tidbit
Tomorrow, Svetlana's going to Italy for a couple of days to relax after this draining World Championships.

Event Finals Day 2
Once again, I'll be only putting up scores first and reports later. I have a written exam tomorrow and need my beauty sleep =).

Men's High Bar
Results
1. Vlasios Maras GRE 9.737
2. Alexander Beresch UKR 9.725
2. Philippe Rizzo AUS 9.725
4. Igor Cassina ITA 9.550
5. Andrei Lipsky UKR 9.525
6. Cristoph Schaerer SUI 8.812
7. Jani Monkkonen FIN 8.737
8. Ivan Ivankov BLR 7.300

Women's Floor Exercise
Andreea Raducan wins her second gold of the day. I'm really happy for her, seeing that she deserved to win at least a gold here to make up for her disappointment in Sydney. She's been performing great routines and she got her rewards today. Wow! Yesterday, Svetlana took two golds and today, Andreea. It's amazing that all the gold medals have been split by these two great gymnasts. And how ironic that their podium places were reversed too - when Svetlana got gold, Andreea took bronze and vice versa. It's also stupendous that Daniele Hypolito took the silver. She has been awesome on floor through the whole week and the silver is rightly hers.

- Tabitha Yim -
2.5 twist punch front 1/2. Triple twist. Double twisting layout front. 9.700 SV.

- Daiane Santos -
Double layout. Arabian double front. Piked front to 2.5 twist. Double pike. Small steps on two of her tumbling runs. 9.800 SV.

- Andreea Raducan -
Lands all of her tumbles well but falls out of a triple turn. Tucked full-in. Triple twist. 2.5 twist punch layout front. Double pike. Huge cheers from the crowd. 9.900 SV.

- Silvia Stroescu -
Double layout (open legs). Tucked full-in. 2.5 twist punch layout front. Double pike (stumble backwards). 9.600 SV.

- Svetlana Khorkina -
Tucked full-in. A bit short on her whip triple twist. Double pike. Some unsteady landings on her twisting jumps. 9.800 SV.

- Tasha Schwikert -
Stuck tucked half-in half-out. 2.5 twist punch layout front. Double pike landed on locked knees, touching down (out of bounds). 9.600 SV.

- Allana Slater -
Whip triple twist not fully rotated. 2.5 twist punch layout front (awkward landing). Really nice choreography. Double pike.

- Daniele Hypolito -
Nice double layout. Stumble back on Arabian double front. 2.5 twist punch layout front. Triple twist (slightly incomplete). Good routine! Hypolito goes on an impromptu victory lap with a Brazilian flag after her score is flashed.

Results
1. Andreea Raducan ROM 9.550
2. Daniele Hypolito BRA 9.487
3. Svetlana Khorkina RUS 9.375
4. Allana Slater AUS 9.337
5. Daiane Santos BRA 9.325
6. Tabitha Yim USA 9.187
7. Silvia Stroescu ROM 9.012
8. Tasha Schwikert USA 8.900

Men's Parallel Bars
Results
1. Sean Townsend USA 9.700
2. Eric Lopez CUB 9.675
3. Ivan Ivankov BLR 9.637
4. Feng Jing CHN 9.537
5. Alexei Sinkevich BLR 9.525
6. Zhang Shangwu CHN 9.512
7. Vasilios Tsolakidis GRE 9.500
8. Marius Urzica ROM 9.375

Women's Balance Beam
Happy for Andreea. At least she managed a gold medal =). Also nice to see Ezhova and Sun on the podium. These three have been performing great on beam this year and they truly deserved their medals.

- Lyudmila Yezhova -
Starts very confidentally with her combination of Onodi-front walkover-side somi. A small balance check in the middle.

- Sabina Cojocar -
Nice full-twisting back. Small wobble on a front walkover. Triple twist dismount.

- Esther Moya -
Silivas mount. RO-layout to two feet. Small hesitations here and there.

- Elena Gomez -
RO-layout mount; front tuck-ff-layout. A little too hesitant overall.

- Tasha Schwikert -
Solid but not brilliant. Back to to Korbut. Nails her dismount of double tuck.

- Andreea Raducan -
Takes a step on her double pike dismount but is surefooted elsewhere – lovely ff-full-twisting back tuck.

- Sun Xiaojiao -
Very nice composition of her routine – front walkover-Rulfova. Takes a step on her dismount and has a wobble on her Yang Bo leap.

- Rachel Tidd -
Falls on her ff-Arabian. The only major break of this final.

Results
1. Andreea Raducan ROM 9.662
2. Lyudmila Ezhova RUS 9.650
3. Sun Xiaojiao CHN 9.575
4. Sabina Cojocar ROM 9.475
5. Tasha Schwikert USA 9.350
6. Elena Gomez ESP 9.025
7. Esther Moya ESP 8.975
8. Rachel Tidd USA 8.375

Men's Vault
Results
1. Marian Dragulescu ROM 9.668
2. Yevgeny Sapronenko LAT 9.643
3. Charles Leon Tamayo CUB 9.624
4. Alexei Bondarenko RUS 9.456
5. Yernar Yerimbetov KAZ 9.450
6. Leszek Blanik POL 9.212
7. Tue Lodahl DEN 9.156
8. Igor Vihrovs LAT 9.075

- November 3, 2001 -

World Championships, 2001:
Event Finals Day 1
Men's Still Rings
Results
1. Jordan Jovtchev BUL 9.775
2. Szilveszter Csollany CHN 9.712
3. Andrea Coppolino ITA 9.650
4. Dimosthenis Tambakos GRE 9.600
5. Ivan Ivankov BLR 9.575
6. Walid Elderiny EGY 9.562
7. You Won-Kil KOR 9.500
8. Herodotos Giorgallas CYP 9.100

Women's Uneven Bars
Another gold for Svetlana Khorkina, though she only slightly edged out the Dutch gymnast, Renske Endel. And here I thought it would be Verona who would challenge her. Anyway, it was sad for Verona or else Khorkina might be facing defeat. But nonetheless, I'm pleased with the gold.

- Renske Endel -
Excellent routine, beautiful stalders (Endo, Endo, pirouette stalder, pirouette to Jaeger). Nailed full-in dismount to huge cheers. SV: 10

- Sara Moro -
Hit the bar with her foot on her Jaeger. Beautiful line and toepoint. Messy legs on her full-twisting double back. SV: 9.8

- Verona van de Leur -
Starts well before a disaster on the low bar when she couldn't make her endo and had to swing down. Big step on her double double dismount. SV: 9.4

- Katie Heenan -
Stalder blind to nice Jaeger. Toe-on blind change to double front with one step. SV: 9.8

- Tatiana Zharganova -
Beautfiul routine with nice combiantion of 1 1/2 to Jaeger, but knee down on her Fontaine dismount. SV: 9.8

- Svetlana Khorkina -
Did not look as confident as usual. Ricna to Pak salto, bent her legs on her Pak, to a stalder to Khorkina II. Nailed her dismount. SV: 9.8

- Lyudmila Ezhova -
Fall on Gienger after a hop full. SV: 9.9.

- Jacqui Dunn -
Hops on and off almost immediately by falling on a Comaneci. Ono turn to Jaeger. SV: 9.8

Results
1. Svetlana Khorkina RUS 9.437
2. Renske Endel NED 9.425
3. Katie Heenan USA 9.212
4. Sara Moro ESP 8.850
5. Tatiana Zharhanova BLR 8.825
6. Lyudmila Ezhova RUS 8.625
6. Jacqui Dunn AUS 8.625
8. Verona van de Leur NED 8.412

Men's Pommel Horse
Results
1. Marian Urzica ROM 9.800
2. Qin Xiao CHN 9.775
3. Alexander Beresch UKR 9.662
4. Nikolai Kryukov RUS 9.650
5. Alberto Busnari ITA 9.562
6. François Ruffier FRA 8.987
7. Feng Jing CHN 8.837
8. Ioan Suciu ROM 8.775

Women's Vault
Awesome! A second gold for Khorkina. She now has two more chances to clich gold in the bars and floor finals. If she does, she will equal her four gold winning performance at the Europeans last year. And this is a gold on vault - what seemed to be her weakest event until the Olympics last year. And I forgot to mention the simple fact that Svetlana made history by being the first to win a gold medal on the Pegases.

- Verona van de Leur -
Nailed her double-twisting Yurchenko. Khorkina I (round off 1/2 on, piked Cuervo off).

- Svetlana Khorkina -
Yurchenko 1.5 with small hop. Great Khorkina II (round off 1/2 on, tucked Rudi off)!

- Andreea Ulmeanu -
Double-twisting Yurchenko - small hop to the side. Piked Cuervo.

- Jana Komrskova -
Podkopayeva. Piked front 1/2 (barani).

- Andreea Raducan -
Balked first vault - piked barani. Layout Podkopayeva.

- Ashley Miles -
Yurchenko 1.5 twist. Tucked front (hands down).

- Mohini Bhardwaj -
Double-twisting Yurchenko with one step back. Tucked Tsukahara-full.

- Oksana Chusovitina -
Piked handspring front-full (stepped off the mat). Nice layout Tsukahara 1 1/2 - good landing.

Results
1. Svetlana Khorkina RUS 9.412 (VT 1: 9.350, VT 2: 9.475)
2. Oksana Chusovitina UZB 9.349 (VT 1: 9.287, VT 2: 9.412)
3. Andreea Raducan ROM 9.243 (VT 1: 9.125, VT 2: 9.362)
4. Jana Komrskova CZE 9.206 (VT 1: 9.237, VT 2: 9.175)
5. Andreea Ulmeanu ROM 9.118 (VT 1: 9.287, VT 2: 8.950)
6. Verona van de Leur NED 9.112 (VT 1: 9.375, VT 2: 8.850)
7. Mohini Bhardwaj USA 9.037 (VT 1: 9.375, VT 2: 8.700)
8. Ashley Miles USA 8.768 (VT 1: 9.312, VT 2: 8.225)

Men's Floor Exercise
Results
1. Jordan Jovtchev BUL 9.550
1. Marian Dragulescuing ROM 9.550
3. Igors Vihrovs LAT 9.425
4. Steve McCain USA 9.312
5. Yevgeny Sapronenko LAT 8.962
6. Alexei Bondarenko RUS 8.937
7. Yernar Yerimebetov KAZ 8.712
8. Alexander Beresch UKR 7.862

(Source: International Gymnast)

- November 2, 2001 -

World Championships, 2001:
Women's All-Around Final
Hurray!!! My two favourite gymnasts are the Gold and Silver medallists at the World Championships. Great accomplishment for Natalia at her first major competition. And Sveta? Need I say more? She's just awesome, repeating her 1997 triumph. I am basically speechless with joy.

Some Quotes:
Svetlana Khorkina had been brought out to address the audience and answer questions at the end of the All-Around Final.
"I would like to thank my parents for their support." she said. "I would like to thank all the coaches who helped me, and give a special thank you to my personal coach, Boris Pilkin. Finally I would like to say thank you to the audience for being so nice to me and to all the gymnasts on the floor tonight. Thank you very much!"

Press Conference
There were no questions given, only answers, but I guess the questions are pretty obvious.

Svetlana Khorkina
The National Training Centre in Krugloe is my second home. I feel like home there. I have not been there a long time.
I am a big supporter of the new vaulting table because it is more safe and it brings more security.
Athens? Greece is a nice country! But I don't think of Olympics yet.
Yes, I have a lot of gold medals in my collection. Each of them has its own history. I don't have a medal won without effort. I cannot says that this medal is more important than the others.

Natalia Ziganshina
On the floor, we did not think about the results. We try to do our business.

Boris Pilken
Of course, we could be better in the team competition with our new Russian champions. I don't know what could happen if the gymansts Zamolodchikova did not suffer from injury. We could have a better team, but this could happen to everybody.

Victor Gavrichenko
I have the same opinion as Boris. We have lost 2 of our best gymnasts.

Sorry, I'll not be reporting on Group B and I'll only be putting up the routines of the top three gymnasts.

Report
Russian Svetlana Khorkina won her second AA title since 1997 before a packed audience in the Flanders Sports Arena in Ghent. Her score 37.617 pts shows how well she has mastered the new Code of Points and proves her ageless status amongst world gymnasts. The 22-year-old went into the lead after her bars routine in the second rotation and never looked back. Her biggest rival, Andreea Raducan started with a mediocre 9.350 on vault, which put her in sixth place. After her weakest apparatus - bars, she dropped to eighth. She needed 9.930 on floor to beat Khorkina. Small mistakes in her tumbling and a step out of bounds meant 9.262 and the bronze.

Svetlana was chased all the way in this exciting competition by her teammate Natalia Ziganshina, a product of Victor Gavrichenko, the coach of the 1980 Olympic Champion and former World Champion Elena Shushunova. Natalia helped redeem the Russians' reputation by winning the silver medal. The Russian team had lost Zamolodchikova and Privalova to injury prior to the competition. Natalia started in third place after her beam routine and was a very consistent performer through the whole competition, holding on to the second spot from the second rotation onwards.

The real surprise in this event was the Brazilian, Daniele Hypolito, who has shot to the top of the world. She had improved by leaps and bounds to end up in fourth, missing the first ever medal for her country by 0.044. She was 27th in the AA two years ago. This is defintely the result of being coached by Oleg Ostapenko, who used to coach the Ukrainian women and now works in Brazil.

Verona van de Leur made history for Dutch gymnastics with their highest placing ever, ninth. She would have been very close to the top three if not for the fall on her ff-layout series on beam.

USA performed consistently to place two gymnasts (Tasha Schwikert, 5th and Tabitha Yim, 7th) in the top eight, which confirms that the their bronze medal position in the Team Finals was no fluke.

All in all, this was undoubtedly one of the finest all-around World Championships following an Olympic Games. The old guard of Khorkina and Raducan with World, European and Olympic experience, are now faced with a very high level young guard led by Netherlands and Spain, and even USA and Daniele Hypolito of Brazil.

Svetlana Khorkina
- Vault -
Tucked Khorkina I (SV: 9.5). Good second vault of Khorkina II.

- Uneven Bars -
Ricna to Pak to stalder, Khorkina II. Great routine with stuck full-out dismount! Only had 9.8 start value, leaving out the full turn after the stalder on low bar and looking a little hesitant.

- Balance Beam -
Round-off, full-twisting back handspring on to ff to layout stepout. FF to full-twisting back handspring. Nails her cartwheel gainer 2.5 twist. Great beam routine from Khorkina!

- Floor Exercise -
Far from perfect on floor with some stumbles on her landings but entertaining as ever. Tucked full-in. Whip triple full. Double pike, manages to stay in bounds. She takes a bow from the cheering audience!

Natalia Ziganshina
- Vault -
Had problems landing her yurchenko 1.5 twist. Good double twisting Yurchenko.

- Uneven Bars -
Gienger. Shushunova. Pak to low bar. Split leg double layout

- Balance Beam -
Piked front mount; standing Arabian. Great routine.

- Floor Exercise -
Gets through her floor routine well. Tucked full-in; 2.5 twist punch front full. Whip triple twist. Double pike.

Andreea Raducan
- Vault -
Popkopayeva. Layout Podkopayeva.

- Uneven Bars -
Gienger; double front dismount with a large hop forward.

- Balance Beam -
Big balance break on tucked front mount. FF tucked full stuck. Switch ring leap. Running front to Chen. Leap to ff layout stepout (wobble). FF to stuck double pike.

- Floor Exercise -
Tucked full-in, nearly sat down on her pass of 2.5 twist punch front (out of bounds).

Final Results
1. Svetlana Khorkina RUS 37.617
    (VT: 9.368, UB: 9.537, BB: 9.237, FX: 9.475)
2. Natalia Ziganshina RUS 37.305
    (VT: 9.343, UB: 9.200, BB: 9.375, FX: 9.387)
3. Andreea Raducan ROM 36.949
    (VT: 9.350, UB: 8.862, BB: 9.475, FX: 9.262)
4. Daniele Hypolito BRA 36.905
    (VT: 9.056, UB: 8.912, BB: 9.375, FX: 9.562)
5. Tasha Schwikert USA 36.881
    (VT: 9.231, UB: 8.950, BB: 9.350, FX: 9.350)
6. Sabina Cojocar ROM 36.780
    (VT: 9.356, UB: 8.625, BB: 9.337, FX: 9.462)
7. Tabitha Yim USA 36.680
    (VT: 9.143, UB: 8.950, BB: 9.125, FX: 9.462)
8. Sara Moro ESP 36.662
    (VT: 8.675, UB: 9.225, BB: 9.475, FX: 9.287)
9. Verona van de Leur NED 36.393
    (VT: 9.093, UB: 9.400, BB: 8.550, FX: 9.350)
10. Sun Xiaojiao CHN 36.292
     (VT: 8.868, UB: 8.875, BB: 9.487, FX: 9.062)
11. Silvia Stroescu ROM 36.218
     (VT: 9.031, UB: 8.575, BB: 9.387, FX: 9.225)
12. Marta Cusido ESP 35.917
     (VT: 9.043, UB: 8.837, BB: 8.925, FX: 9.112)
13. Gabrille Wammes NED 35.848
     (VT: 9.124, UB: 8.562, BB: 9.025, FX: 9.137)
14. Holly Murdock GBR 35.542
     (VT: 8.918, UB: 8.750, BB: 8.862, FX: 9.012)
15. Yevgenia Kunetsova BUL 35.374
     (VT: 9.025, UB: 8.787, BB: 8.937, FX: 8.625)
16. Kate Richardson CAN 35.292
     (VT: 8.968, UB: 8.662, BB: 8.687, FX: 8.975)
17. Elena Gomez ESP 35.280
     (VT: 8.818, UB: 8.425, BB: 8.837, FX: 9.200)
18. Mohini Bhardwaj USA 35.036
     (VT: 9.362, UB: 8.487, BB: 8.275, FX: 8.912)
19. Oksana Chusovitina UZB 35.023
     (VT: 9.362, UB: 8.237, BB: 8.387, FX: 9.037)
20. Alyona Kvasha UKR 34.961
     (VT: 8.812, UB: 8.312, BB: 8.725, FX: 9.112)
21. Olga Roschupkina UKR 34.955
     (VT: 8.731, UB: 8.662, BB: 9.075, FX: 8.487)
22. Allana Slater AUS 34.942
     (VT: 8.868, UB: 9.050, BB: 8.212, FX: 8.812)
23. Delphine Regease FRA 34.924
     (VT: 8.962, UB: 8.312, BB: 8.800, FX: 8.850)
24. Eliazbeth Tweddle GBR 34.892
     (VT: 8.918, UB: 8.937, BB: 8.362, FX: 8.675)
25. Janercky de la Pena CUB 34.824
     (VT: 8.937, UB: 8.800, BB: 8.562, FX: 8.525)
26. Lyudmila Ezhova RUS 34.774
     (VT: 6.900, UB: 9.312, BB: 9.587, FX: 8.975)
27. Birgit Schweigert GER 34.635
     (VT: 9.049, UB: 8.537, BB: 8.587, FX: 8.462)
28. Rikst Valentijn NED 34.593
     (VT: 8.756, UB: 8.700, BB: 8.475, FX: 8.662)
29. Jacqui Dunn AUS 34.286
     (VT: 8.737, UB: 8.837, BB: 8.387, FX: 8.325)
30. Tatiana Zharhanova BLR 33.929
     (VT: 8.449, UB: 8.137, BB: 8.787, FX: 8.550)
31. Tatiana Yarosh UKR 33.449
     (VT: 8.562, UB: 7.762, BB: 8.175, FX: 8.950)
32. Ashley Peckett CAN 33.243
     (VT: 8.718, UB: 8.550, BB: 7.125, FX: 8.850)

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