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Affichage des articles du 2017

Laura Waem retires from elite gymnastics

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Earlier today, Team Belgium member Laura Waem said goodbye to the sport she loved and moved on to the next chapter of her life. Over the years, Laura has been a rock on the Belgian team, reaching several international finals and making history mutliple times. Credit: An Vanderstraeten Laura made her debut on the big stage back in 2012, when she was named to the Belgian Juniors team for the European Championships, held in Belgium. There, she already showed promises, placing 12th in the team qualifications and 30th in the all-around. Credit: An vanderstraeten She turned Senior the following year, starting the year at the International Gymnix in Canada, where she placed 4th on balance beam and 6th on uneven bars, as well as 12th in the all-around. After winning a bronze medal at Belgian Championships, she was named to the Worlds team, along with Lisa Verschueren and Gaelle Mys. There, she made history, qualifying for the all-around final with Gaelle. This was the first

2017 Top Gym : Martina Dominici dominates the 20th edition !

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Last weekend, the Top Gym celebrated its 25th anniversary and its 20th edition. For that occasion, the Gymnos de Charleroi invited prestigious countries that made history at the Top Gym.  Credit: Belgian Gymnastics But in the end, it is what we can call a small gymnastics country that came on top, with Argentina's Martina Dominici dominating the competition on both days to win 5 medals ! On Saturday, she won the all-around competition which, for the first time in the tournament's history, had to be organised in two subdivision. Dominici showed great execution and loads of difficulty, to win gold with 52.516. Mathilde Wahl , from France, won the silver medal, thanks to her great work on bars and a beautiful floor routine. She earned 51.149. In 3rd place, we find Kaytlyn Johnson , from the club of Denton, who impressed with her double twisting Yurchenko on vault (50.700). Credit: Belgian Gymnastics On the Belgian side, our country was represented by Cassia

2017 Elite Gym Massilia: 6th place as a team, 5 finals and a bronze medal for Margaux Daveloose

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This weekend, Marseille hosted the 2017 edition of the Elite Gym Massilia, a prestigious international competition that gathered Youth, Juniors and Seniors gymnasts. Our country was well represented and the girls come home from Marseille with 5 finals and one bronze medal ! Credit: Elite Gym Massilia On Friday,  Fien Enghels and Julie Vandamme competed in the Open competition as a mixed group. Fien placed 9th in the all-around with a total score of 49.567. Julie Vandamme placed 15th. Fien qualified for two finals, on bars and floor. On Saturday, Belgium competed in the Master competition, consisting of the 6th best team plus the two best teams of the Open competition that took place on Friday. Our team was a mix of Juniors and Seniors, with Margaux Daveloose , Julie Meyers , as well as Senna Deriks and Axelle Klinckaert competing, both returning back to competition after injuries that kept them from the sport for quite a long time. Axelle and Senna both made appeara

Busy schedule for Team Belgium !

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The past month has been pretty intense for our gymnasts with several international competition in the Netherlands, France, Switzerland and Belgium, competitions from which our gymnasts brought back medals ! Here's a recap! Credit: GymFed Šalamunov Memorial, Slovenia - 20-21st October  A few weeks ago, Luka Vanden Keybus, Jimmy Verbaeys, Noah Kuavita and Takumi Onosima travelled to Slovenia for the Šalamunov Memorial, an international competition that gathered Juniors and Seniors gymnasts. This competition was successful for Team Belgium as they won 6 medals ! Jimmy Verbaeys won the all-around title, and two bronze medals, on rings and horizontal bar. Noah Kuavita won the silver medal in the all-around and added a couple of medals, the silver on parallel bars and the gold on horizontal bar! Takumi, who's a first year Senior, was held back by a back injury but still made it to the parallel bars final. However, he didn't compete in order to focus on his healing proces

A reflection on Worlds: what's next?

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On Sunday night, the lights were turned off in the Olympic Arena in Montreal, putting an end to the 47th World gymnastics championships. In Montreal, our Team Belgym showed promises, talent, and that hard work always pays off. With an historic bronze medal and three finals, but also all our gymnasts in the top 30, future seems bright for Belgium's gymnastics. Credit: Mathias Hikketik After a season packed of competitions, Maxime Gentges arrived in Montreal with high hopes and expectations, wishing to make it to the all-around final. Unfortunately, the young gymnast from Malmedy fell short and missed the final for a point, placing 29th with a total score of 76.364. Although this result is not the one he was hoping for, Maxime's performance in Montreal remains a great achievement, placing in the top 30 at Worlds, his best result. With a nagging wrist injury, Maxime kept pushing and gave his best, but will now have to undergo surgery. No doubt he'll be ready for the 2

2017 Worlds: Nina Derwael wins a historical bronze medal on uneven bars!

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After an amazing performance in the all-around final along with Rune Hermans, Nina Derwael did even better in the uneven bars final, winning a historical bronze medal ! Credit: Mathias Hikketik Nina successfully qualified for the final with the 4th best scores out of the 8 gymnasts that made it, posting 14.966. But she knew she had to step up her game if she wanted to medal. Which she did. She was the second gymnast to go on Saturday, and with the best routine she's ever performed, she managed to score 15.033, earning the best score of her career under the new code of points ! All she had to do now was to wait anxiously. Only two gymnasts surpassed her : the reigning World Champion, China's Fan Yilin (15.166), and European silver medalist Elena Eremina (Russia, 15.100), leaving Nina Derwael with a historical bronze medal around her neck. What Nina achieved in Montreal is an amazing accomplishment. After being the first female gymnast to ever qualify to a

2017 Worlds: historical performances for Nina Derwael and Rune Hermans in final !

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Last night, Nina Derwael and Rune Hermans both competed in the all-around final, with the hope of improving their qualification score. But they did even better than that, as they both placed in the top 12 and made history once again ! Credit: Mathias Hikketik Nina started her competition on the uneven bars, her best event, where she got 14.966 to take the lead. That score was the highest of the competition, not only on the uneven bars but on all four events! Rune was in the 4th group and started on floor exercise, where she performed a piked full-in, un one and a half twist to full twist and a two and a half twist to front tuck, for which she received a 13.066. In the lead after the first rotation, things got a bit more complicated on beam for Nina , as she fell on her back handspring layout step out. She finished strong, with a triple wolf turn, a double wolf turn and a Gainer dismount (11.633). On vault, Rune got a 13.300 for a Yurchenko full twist. Moving on to f

2017 Worlds: another page of Belgian gymnastics History written in Montreal

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On Tuesday and Wednesday, the Olympic Arena in Montreal hosted the Women's qualifications. Maellyse Brassart, Rune Hermans and Nina Derwael all took part in these. And they wrote another page of Belgium's gymnastics history. Credit: Mathias Hikketik Our girls competed in the 2nd subdivision on Tuesday, meaning they had to wait 24 hours to know their rankings. But the wait was worth it. They started on bars, Nina 's best event. And the European Champion lived up to her standards, as she easily took the lead with a huge 14.966, her personal best. She also got an element named after her: the stalder linked to the Tkatchev regrasped in L grip. An element she will be sharing with Great Britain's Georgia-Mae Fenton who also successfully completed the skill. Rune Hermans also had a gret score, posting 13.800, while Maellyse delivered a good performance until the dismount where she had a rebound and put her hands down (12.533). Credit: Mathias Hikketik Bea

2017 Worlds: 29th place for Maxime Gentges in qualifications

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The 2017 World Championships finally started on Monday with the men's qualifications. Maxime Gentges kicked things off for Belgium. He placed 29th after both days of qualifications! Credit: Mathias Hikketik Maxime started the competition on vault, where he performed a double twisting Yurchenko. He didn't get a big enough push off the table and couldn't avoid the fall (12.266). On parallel bars, Maxime had to count another fall on the dismount, as he stumbled backwards on his double pike (12.466). Maxime seemed to regain a bit of confidence on his next two events. On high bar, he showed a good routine, with good heights on the releases to score 12.966. He got his best score on floor, with a great front layout to double front as his opening tumble. With a 13.600, Maxime seemed to be on the right path again.  On pommel horse, one of his best event, a couple of leg separations cost him a few tenth (12.900). He finished his competition on rings, where he got

2017 Worlds: all you need to know and what to expect!

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The 2017 World Gymnastics Championships will start tomorrow in Montreal, Canada! These are the first Worlds since last year's Olympic Games and new champions will be crowned. Here's a look at what to expect! MTL 2017 On the men's side, Maxime Gentges will be the only representative for Team Belgium. His main goal will be to go clean and try to qualify for the all-around final. Maxime will compete in the 2nd subidivison on Monday 2nd October. Japan's Kohei Uchimura and Ukraine's Oleg Verniaiev will battle for gold in the all-around. Uchimura, undefeated since 2009, will try to win his 7th straight world all-around title! In the apparatus finals, Max Whitlock is a favorite to win gold on floor and pommels, while Eleftherios Petrounias will try to retain his World title on rings.  On vault, Yang Hak-seon, the 2012 Olympic champion, will have to watch his back as European vault champion Artur Dalaloyan and Japan's star Kenzo Shirai should reach the

2017 EYOF: Two bronze medals and six finals!

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Last week, our young gymnasts traveled to Györ (Hungary) for the European Youth Olympic Festival, one of the most prestigious competitions for the Juniors. In Hungary, Team Belgium qualified for 6 finals and brought home 2 bronze medals! Credit: GymFed On the men's side, Mattis Bouchet , Ward Claeys and Justin Pesesse started their competition on Tuesday with individual qualifications and team final. They ranked 6th, a great results for the boys, against some of the strongest teams in Europe. The team competition was won by Russia, followed by Great Britain and Switzerland. Results Team Final 1. Russia 161.450 2. Great Britain 159.000 3. Switzerland 158.450 ... 6. Belgium 155.000 Individually, Justin Pesesse qualified for the all-around final, along with Mattis Bouchet who also qualified for the horizontal bar final. Ward Claeys would compete in the pommel horse final. On Thursday, Justin Pesesse ranked 10th in the all-around final, won by Great Bri