Event winners:
Floor – GOLOTSUTSKOV Anton (RUS) 15.700
Pommel – BERKI Krisztian (HUN) 16.025
Rings – VAN GELDER Yuri (NED) 16.500
Vault – BLANIK Leszek (POL) 16.562
Parallel Bars – PETKOVSEK Mitja (SLO) 16.025
Horizontal Bar – HAMBUECHEN Fabian GER 16.025
more scores – GymnasticsResults.com
Incredibly, half one third of the European Champions — those in bold — did not qualify for the Beijing Olympics.
Blanik was ineligible for the 2004 Olympics.
What does that say about the FIG Olympic selection process?
Thee very best gymnasts in the world must jump through too many hoops to get to our showcase competition.
Related post: top gymnasts NOT going to Beijing
Thanks for the correction rockygaz.
Related: commentary on GYMmedia – Men’s Apparatus Finals
6 comments ↓
actually, petkovsek did qualify for Beijing
They only have to jump through one hoop actually. They came up short so they’re staying home. I hear a lot of crying about the demise of the AA these days, then people want to moan that some guys who don’t do the AA didn’t make the Olympics. Personally, I’m not going to cry for some guy that tried to get to the Olympics based on exactly one event but came up short.
Good point on the seeming contradiction between wanting all the best specialists while still preserving the AA.
There is a solution though — reduce the # of teams. What if team size was reduced to five? (5-3-3)
What if the number of teams was reduced from 12 to 6?
That way many more top AA and individual apparatus specialists could go.
I think a lot of countries would not be happy about reducing the teams from 12 to 6. Especially if the teams being cut get no guarantees. Right now teams 13-18 still earn spots for one or two gymnasts. If you cut six teams, what are you going to do for them?
Team competition is just as important as AA and specialist competition. You could cut teams less drastically, preserve the team competition and still get some new AA and specialist spots. Why you even need additional AA spots is beyond me though. The top AA are going to come from the top teams and they are limited to 2 per country in AA anyway. The best way to get the best AAers into the AA final is to eliminate country limits, not shave the number of teams.
Shaving team size is an option but a lot of people still don’t like 6-3-3 and they’ll like 5-3-3 even less.
I support having these outstanding athletest at the games. i think the emphasis on national teams vice individual athletes is contrary to the older rationale for the games in the first place. Also, the events are going to specialization. Let’s live with it. It’s good. I liked event specialists in NCAAs. They always seemed neat.
all world and world cup medlalists should get automatic berths to the olympics.period. elsa garcia isnt going cause she had a crap worlds because of injury…….but shes one of the best female gymnasts out there.
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