Articles

Affichage des articles du août, 2016

Tokyo 2020: Dream and train

Image
"To be an olympic athlete", that's the dream of a lot, if not of all athletes. Of course witnessing great performances and experiences strengthens the dream.   Credit: Jade Vansteenkiste, Fien Enghels, Julie Vandamme A group of young gymnasts started their "Road to Tokyo", with the beautiful images of the seniors team in mind. The road will be long and tough but the last years have shown us the importance of having a team! It's great to see how the young gymnasts incorporate this message.  Teamspirit is promoted from the very beginning of their gymnastics training. The gymnasts of the different regional training centers train together on different occasions during the weekends and school-holidays. They become a close group of gymnasts and coaches, working together on the next Olympic campaign.  Generation 2024 training together in Bruges. Credit: Joke Mertens. The road is long and different gymnasts will have to leave their d

2016 Olympic Games: 8th place for Dennis in the rings final!

Image
On the second day of event finals, our very own Dennis Goossens entered the arena for the rings final, one of the most difficult in the gymnastics world. Credit: Belga Sports Dennis Goossens 's Olympic Games were already a success. His main goal was to reach the rings final, and he did it on the very first day of competition. Everything that would come out of this final would be a bonus. Dennis was the 3rd gymnast to go, right after the heavy favorite, Eleftherios Petrounias , who went on to win the gold medal with a huge 16.000. With no major mistake and just a step on the landing, the Belgian gymnast earned a good 14.933, a bit lower than what he got in qualifications, and unfortunately not enough to be in a medal position. Credit: Belga Sports Dennis placed 8th, in a great final, highlighted by the joy of the Brazilian crowd when Arthur Zanetti , the defending Olympic Champion, placed 2nd and won the silver medal (15.766). The bronze went to Russia's D

2016 Olympic Games: Nina Derwael 19th in the all-around final !

Image
Yesterday was yet another magical moment for our gymnasts, and especially for Nina Derwael, as she entered the Olympic Arena to compete in the all-around final, at age 16. Let's have a look at her historical performance! Credit: Belga Nina started on floor, and what a start ... With 13.733, Nina delivered once again a solid performance, improving her qualification score by 0.2 points. She impressed the audience with her expressiveness, including Olympic silver medalist, USA's Samantha Peszek, who had nothing but compliments for her performance. Credit: Twitter Nina then went to vault, where she performed a clean full twisting Yurchenko to earn a 13.966. After that, our Belgian gymnast moved on to bars, her best event. Not only did Nina hit her routine, she received the second highest score of the day, with 15.300. This routine reminded me of how unfair it was for her not to be in the bars final. This routine deserves to be seen, it is Olympics final wor

2016 Olympic Games: Team BelGYM in 12th, all-around final for Nina!

Image
Our Team BelGYM competed on Saturday in the qualification round, hoping to increase its World rankings. In Rio, our gymnasts were simply amazing and showed why they are a team on the rise. They started their competition on bars, their best event. Rune Hermans was up first and was the anchor of the team : her score would pave the way for the three other members of the team on that event. With a very soldi routine, she scored 13.775. Senna Deriks started very well, showing great control on her stalders, but then had to take an extra swing on the high bar, a costly deduction (13.533). Next up was Nina Derwael , known for her amazing bars work but who had consistency issues in the past few months. But not on Saturday. She was flawless. Nina presented a difficult routine with a stalder full turn, Shaposhnikova to a Bhardwaj, a Shaposhnikova half turn, a jeager release, a Tkatchev connected to a pak salto and a full in dismount for 15.133, the highest score of the day for Team Be

2016 Olympic Games: historical rings final for Dennis Goossens!

Image
Here we go! The Olympic Games officially started on Friday, but no time to celebrate for our gymnast, as Dennis Goossens was in the first subdivision on Saturday morning. Only one goal : to qualify for the final. The young gymnast from TK Kerels Waasmunster gym club  only competed on rings, his best event, and the most difficult part for him was to wait. He had to wait for the first four rotations to be over before mounting the rings, and then he had to wait for two complete subdivisions to end. Only then would he know if he had made it to the final.  It's not the kind of things made to reassure you. But Dennis was at the top of his game yesterday. The objective was to score close to his main rivals, World and European Champion Eleftherios Petrounias (Greece) and Olympic Champion Arthur Zanetti (Brazil), both in the same subdivision as Dennis . And he did so amazingly well, scoring 15.366 and placing in a provisionary 3rd place, ahead of one of his main rivals, Yuri

The 2016 Olympic Games preview part. 2 : Team BelGYM wants to shine in Rio

Image
After the preview about Dennis Goossens yesterday, it is now time to have a look at our Women's team and what the girls can achieve in Rio! Credit: Rune Hermans Yves Kieffer has told this many times : Belgium is not in Rio to just "be there". The team wants to prove its qualificiation wasn't a fluke and that they are now a force to be reckoned with. The injury of Axelle Klinckaert , a few weeks prior to the Games, was a blow for the Belgian team, but the country can count on its great other gymnasts, and Rune Hermans , usually not in an alternate position, stepped in. Her back pain seems to be gone, and she's ready to take her responsabilities and prove what she can do. The team, composed of Nina Derwael , Gaelle Mys , Senna Deriks , Laura Waem and Rune Hermans , will start the competition on the uneven bars, in the very first subdivision (out of five) on Sunday. They will compete alongside the team from China and individual gymnasts such as gymnasti

The 2016 Olympic Games preview : Dennis Goossens ready to take on the rings!

Image
The 2016 Olympic Games are just a few days away now. It is time for me to try to predict what will happen during our gymnasts' competitions and what we can expect from them. First, let's start with our Lord of the Rings : Dennis Goossens! Credit: Mathias Hikketik Dennis Goossens will be the first of our representatives to enter the Olympic arena in Rio on Saturday. As the sole Belgian male gymnast in Brazil, he will compete in a mixed group with gymnasts from Latvia, Israel, Colombia, Belarus, Chile and Turkey. This group will compete in the first subdivision (out of three) of the day and will start on parallel bars. It is well known now that Dennis 's best event are the rings and he will only focus on this apparatus in Rio. The 2016 season has been a success so far for the young gymnast, as he reached two World Cup finals on rings, winning bronze in Cottbus, as well as the European Championships final, placing 7th. Dennis got his Olympic ticket last June, in R