Rewind Week Two 01/10 : 2004 European Championships

[phoenix7]

I know it didn't quite come off in EF, but I love Alona Kvasha's first tumbling run from a forward whip at 1 hr 47 minutes. It looks even better with the deep landing, even if that's not good form officially. It's as if she's been fired from a catapult and sticks the landing by sheer force of will. Must watch more of her!

 

[phoenix7]

Ukrainian gymnasts and front tumbling seem to have been a match made in heaven.

 

[phoenix7]

Good Lord! I remember following quick hits on GymWorld (yes, that GymWorld), but I've never seen any footage from this competition. Here are some quick comments after my initial viewing:

1. Zamolodchikova is almost unwatchable.
2. Sofronie was the only Romanian I liked in Athens. This meet affirmed why.
3. I disliked Ponor's gymnastics back then. I dislike it even more now
4. Kozich and Krasnynska were delightful. After this meet, I thought Kozich would have a much greater impact in Athens, but it wasn't to be.
5. Beth Tweddle's UB is so much fun to watch.

Kovich was the third best AA at Athens - sadly that result came in Teams final, where she got Ukraine within a point of bronze.

She was the highest scoring of all AAers in the Teams final. It's such a shame she fell on beam in AA final. She would have got bronze with her Team score.

 

[ArnoldRimmer]

Qualification results really are hard to find quickly. It wouldn't surprise me re VT EF. In Beth's retirement tribute video Amanda talked about how she was European VT EF worthy. She had a FTT and a piked barani at 2002 CWG so 1.5Y and FTT would probably have made Euros VT EF in 2005.

I've never seen her touch warm up UB fall from the AA final in Debrecan. I don't know if footage even exists. I have memories of following quick hits and people saying it was really scary and they weren't sure if she was moving.


This.

Guessing it would've been the Omelianchik and Yurchenko 1.5, as she was doing that combo in late 04 at the Glasgow Grand Prix.



Seems Beth is another one to have competed all four vault entries at some point then. I doubt she was ever going to excel at beam, but maybe she could've been a three event threat if she'd been healthier.

@phoenix7 I too love the layout front to tucked double front combo. The Ukrainians had some fabulous double fronts for a period.

 

[phoenix7]

That is a lovely DTY from Monica Rosu in EF. What a shame she didn't continue after 2004.

She had an extraordinarily efficient career:

WC 2003 4th vault, 2nd team.
EC 2004 1st vault, 1st team
Oly 2004 1st vault, 1st team

2005 retired aged 17.

 

[RAFIKI]

Good spot phoenix7!

 

[RAFIKI]

I know it didn't quite come off in EF, but I love Alona Kvasha's first tumbling run from a forward whip at 1 hr 47 minutes. It looks even better with the deep landing, even if that's not good form officially. It's as if she's been fired from a catapult and sticks the landing by sheer force of will. Must watch more of her!

Watch her Euros winning routine from Patras, she nearly sticks everything.

 

[RAFIKI]

Arena

• Blimey I was right about the low crowd capacity, only 7k.
• That march round tune drove us nuts, annoyingly catchy, cheesy yet fun. I think this is the first rotation dance I remember happening. Thankfully this coverage is compressed so there's not much of it.
• During the Team medal ceremony the Romanian anthem went on forever. I guess the federation sent the long version with 11 verses. The gymnast were laughing on the medal podium and the situation became quite absurd until someone faded it out.

Commentary/coverage

• Did the blues seem extra-bright in this coverage to anyone else? I felt like I needed sunglasses to look at Belu's jacket!
• I've not heard the word "tatty" in a long time (about Zamo's leg form), so British
• They really harped on Khorkina's VT fall "trauma"
• "Sofronie's day will come" another Romanian with a pretty short career.
• Commentator was very taken with the VT runway camera giving such exciting and interesting shots.
• 2004 and gymnast's weights were still being given.
• Interesting to see the warm up gym and some behind the scenes footage as the cameras followed Khorkina.

Gymnasts

• Seeing Tweddle introduced as Elizabeth always amuses.
• Kozich looks pretty young here. I enjoyed her ono and was suprised to see such messy feet on her pak. I'd forgotten she had a different edit of Patterson's 03-04 FX music, she changed it for Athens. Loved some of her choreo on BB.
• Linders had an unfortunate leotard but her double pike beam dismount surprised me.
• Hooray for Zamo doing a bar mount (Gurova?). I also enjoyed her standing tuck front on beam. That DLO can stay away though.
• Ukraine had so many leotards at this competition. Yarotska's blue one remains a classic. If you'd asked me who had come 4th AA in Anaheim I would not have remembered it was her.
• Kozich and Khorkina's hands seem huge, I guess it's the way they move them.
• Sekarova's AA FX was a hard watch and her BB felt very mid 90s. Cool straight back mount.
• Gomez sure did travel a lot on her FX full in and BB full twisting tuck jump.
• I thought Khorkina's FX was a bit underrated. It doesn't get talked about much compared to her other routines, perhaps because she only performed it in situations where the medal she wanted was out of reach by FX.
• Odd going back to a time when so few gymnasts acknowledged each other after performances. I remember at the time wondering why men would but women rarely did.
• Gener was so fast on UB.
• Krasnyanska's BB mount is still glorious.
• The hallowed Romanian "choo choo" BB choreo! That aside, their BB confidence and speed really did stand out.
• Hooray for some upright double pikes on FX.
• Love Ponor's FX music and it was nice to see Gomez's world winning routine agin, her Athens FX was quite forgettable.

Gymnastics

• VT SVs were harsh here, 9.9 for the Khorkina II.
• The 1 m line on the vault landing mat was useful, shame it's gone.
• I'm glad the Luconi VT has died, so few did it well.
• Really nice to see an Ezhova from a pirouette rather than a half twisting release.
• So many 3X BB dismounts at this comp.
• I hated them at the time, but found the cat leap combos refreshing on FX. I expect watching another comp from this era would have cured me though! Still loathed the twisting tuck jumps on BB and FX.
• Lovely to see Spain and Ukraine at this level. Beautiful toe point (with the trademark Kras tkatchev being a notable exception!).
• It was frustrating to be in an era where SV mattered and varied a fair bit but not have it on the score graphics.

Nostalgia/personal

• The organisers released a CD with all the FX music. Not sure how that flies copyright-wise but I still have mine somewhere.
• It was affirming to see so many gymnasts stand up from beam in the boring way that I do (from one knee)!
• This was the first competition where I knew I would be seeing a legend live for the last time. I gave Khorkina a personal standing ovation after her EF FX.
• Our GW row cheered hard for Gargano in the FX EF. We really didn't want Harmes to medal. Back then she was the go to gymnast to exemplify poor choreography/performance quality.

 

[IratePanda]

Arena

• Blimey I was right about the low crowd capacity, only 7k.
• That march round tune drove us nuts, annoyingly catchy, cheesy yet fun. I think this is the first rotation dance I remember happening. Thankfully this coverage is compressed so there's not much of it.
• During the Team medal ceremony the Romanian anthem went on forever. I guess the federation sent the long version with 11 verses. The gymnast were laughing on the medal podium and the situation became quite absurd until someone faded it out.

Commentary/coverage

• Did the blues seem extra-bright in this coverage to anyone else? I felt like I needed sunglasses to look at Belu's jacket!
• I've not heard the word "tatty" in a long time (about Zamo's leg form), so British
• They really harped on Khorkina's VT fall "trauma"
• "Sofronie's day will come" another Romanian with a pretty short career.
• Commentator was very taken with the VT runway camera giving such exciting and interesting shots.
• 2004 and gymnast's weights were still being given.
• Interesting to see the warm up gym and some behind the scenes footage as the cameras followed Khorkina.

Gymnasts

• Seeing Tweddle introduced as Elizabeth always amuses.
• Kozich looks pretty young here. I enjoyed her ono and was suprised to see such messy feet on her pak. I'd forgotten she had a different edit of Patterson's 03-04 FX music, she changed it for Athens. Loved some of her choreo on BB.
• Linders had an unfortunate leotard but her double pike beam dismount surprised me.
• Hooray for Zamo doing a bar mount (Gurova?). I also enjoyed her standing tuck front on beam. That DLO can stay away though.
• Ukraine had so many leotards at this competition. Yarotska's blue one remains a classic. If you'd asked me who had come 4th AA in Anaheim I would not have remembered it was her.
• Kozich and Khorkina's hands seem huge, I guess it's the way they move them.
• Sekarova's AA FX was a hard watch and her BB felt very mid 90s. Cool straight back mount.
• Gomez sure did travel a lot on her FX full in and BB full twisting tuck jump.
• I thought Khorkina's FX was a bit underrated. It doesn't get talked about much compared to her other routines, perhaps because she only performed it in situations where the medal she wanted was out of reach by FX.
• Odd going back to a time when so few gymnasts acknowledged each other after performances. I remember at the time wondering why men would but women rarely did.
• Gener was so fast on UB.
• Krasnyanska's BB mount is still glorious.
• The hallowed Romanian "choo choo" BB choreo! That aside, their BB confidence and speed really did stand out.
• Hooray for some upright double pikes on FX.
• Love Ponor's FX music and it was nice to see Gomez's world winning routine agin, her Athens FX was quite forgettable.

Gymnastics

• VT SVs were harsh here, 9.9 for the Khorkina II.
• The 1 m line on the vault landing mat was useful, shame it's gone.
• I'm glad the Luconi VT has died, so few did it well.
• Really nice to see an Ezhova from a pirouette rather than a half twisting release.
• So many 3X BB dismounts at this comp.
• I hated them at the time, but found the cat leap combos refreshing on FX. I expect watching another comp from this era would have cured me though! Still loathed the twisting tuck jumps on BB and FX.
• Lovely to see Spain and Ukraine at this level. Beautiful toe point (with the trademark Kras tkatchev being a notable exception!).
• It was frustrating to be in an era where SV mattered and varied a fair bit but not have it on the score graphics.

Nostalgia/personal

• The organisers released a CD with all the FX music. Not sure how that flies copyright-wise but I still have mine somewhere.
• It was affirming to see so many gymnasts stand up from beam in the boring way that I do (from one knee)!
• This was the first competition where I knew I would be seeing a legend live for the last time. I gave Khorkina a personal standing ovation after her EF FX.
• Our GW row cheered hard for Gargano in the FX EF. We really didn't want Harmes to medal. Back then she was the go to gymnast to exemplify poor choreography/performance quality.

Great post! So true about Harmes! In fact, I just remembered that some GGMBers used to call her "Susanne HARMS my eyes." Kind of mean, but apt.

I remember thinking that Gomez's floor routines seemed so empty. She had lovely toepoint and carriage and great leaps and turns, but her movements never seemed to match the music.

The Romanian choo-choo. Ah, yes. I loved Eremia's mount. I think it's borrowed from sports aerobics? It actually reminds me of a yoga move that I'll never master. I think I liked Sofronie because she seemed the most un-Romanian of all the Romanians. It's a shame she didn't have a longer career. In fact, most of the 2004 team retired very quickly--except for Ponor who kept turning up like a bad penny.

 

[RAFIKI]

Thanks.

One notable takeaway from this rewatch is that beam was the most interesting event. It felt like there was more variety of combinations and skills compared to recent Euros. That said - 2020s choreography, particularly low beam sequences, has generally improved with the artistry checklist.

 

[RAFIKI]

Speaking of beam, Tina Erceg’s arabian mount deserves a mention here. Cool low beam roll as well

 

[Big_rock_show]

Good Lord! I remember following quick hits on GymWorld (yes, that GymWorld), but I've never seen any footage from this competition. Here are some quick comments after my initial viewing:

1. Zamolodchikova is almost unwatchable.
2. Sofronie was the only Romanian I liked in Athens. This meet affirmed why.
3. I disliked Ponor's gymnastics back then. I dislike it even more now
4. Kozich and Krasnynska were delightful. After this meet, I thought Kozich would have a much greater impact in Athens, but it wasn't to be.
5. Beth Tweddle's UB is so much fun to watch.

I agree with all 5 points!