Articles

Affichage des articles du février, 2016

Rio Test Event : the draws are known

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The Olympic Test Event is in less than two months. We now know the draws and how the competition will go. Credit: Belgian Gymnastics First of all, remember that this competition is crucial, for the boys but also for the girls, as it will allow a male gymnast to earn a spot at the Olympic Games and it will be the last chance for the female gymnasts to qualify a full team, which would be a first for our country. Let's start with the boys. At last year's World Championships, the men's team placed 17th, meaning they wouldn't be allowed to send a full team at the Test Event or the Olympic Games. In April, two Belgian gymnasts will be sent and will try to earn a spot for Belgium at the Games.  We don't know the names of these gynasts yet, it is too early, but we know when and with whom they will compete at the Olympic Test Event. The male gymnasts will compete on April 16th in the 2nd subdivision (out of 3). They will compete with teams from France, Spain

World Challenge Cup Baku: Silver for Maxime Gentges!

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For his first competition of the season, Maxime Gentges (Gym Club Malmédy) travelled to Azerbaijan and Baku for the World Challenge Cup. And our gymnast shone! Maxime was set to compete on three apparatuses, pommel horse, parallel bars and horizontal bar. The competition was already a hit for Maxime as he successfully qualified on all three events during the qualification sessions on Friday and Saturday! On Sunday, let's go for the finals! Maxime started on pommel horse, where he performed a beautiful and clean routine to score 14.700 for 2nd place! Japan's Tomomasa Hasegawa easily won the event with 15.400. Saeed Reza Keikha, from Iran, won the bronze medal with 14.450.  Maxime qualified in 8th place on parallel bars in qualification. Today, after a small istake, he finished strong with a great double piked dismount. He got 13.800 and placed 8th.  But the competition was not over yet for our gymnast as he still had one final: horizontal bar! Being

Friendly meet BEL-GER-ROU: all you need to know!

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The Fédération francophone de Gymnastique unveiled the poster and infos of this prestigious meet where our Belgian team will compete against direct competitors for a team spot at the Olympic Test Event: Romania and Germany!  Credit: Fédération francophone de Gymnastique On April 3rd, Mouscron will host this friendly meet, which will gather Juniors and Seniors teams as well as individual gymnasts from Spain and Austria. This competition will serve as a final test for the Senior team as the gymnasts will then travel to Rio for the Olympic Test Event (April, 16-24). This will also be a test for the European Championships that will take place in Bern (Switzerland) in June, a competition where the Junior team will also compete.   Seniors Teams : Belgium Senna  Deriks Rune  Hermans Axelle Klinckaert Gaelle  Mys Cindy  Vandenhole Laura Waem Julie Meyers (individually) Julie Croket (individually) Nina Derwael got injured and won't compete at the friendly meet Romania

Donna-Donny Truyens says goodbye to gymnastics

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Donna-Donny Truyens decided to put an end to his long and successful career. Credit: Dirk Waem - Belga Born on March 31st 1989, he has been a member of the national team for 10 years and his favourite event was the pommel horse. He was, in fact, a true specialist on this event and has won multiple medals at international events.  He made his debut with the Belgian team at the 2006 European Junior Championships in Volos (Greece). He ended up in 5th place in the pommel horse final. He became a Senior in 2007 and won a silver medal at the World Cup in Ostrava, in Czech Republic. He won his first major title in 2008, at the Szombathely World Cup, Hungary. The next year, he added three medals to his collection, two golds in Cottbus and Maribor and a bronze in Montreal.   Despite very good results at World Cups events, he hasn't win a medal at a World or European Championships, even if he reached multiple finals: 2007 (EC Amsterdam, 5th), 2008, (EC Lausanne, 6th), 2009