China Takes Over the Odense World Trampoline Championships

China proved their dominance in the 2015 World Championships in Odense, Denmark after taking home the available World titles in Men’s and Women’s Individual Trampoline finals, allowing them to move forward to the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro next year.

Men’s Trampoline: Gao Lei dominated the World Championships

The 2016 Rio Summer Olympics is just nine months away from now, and the Trampoline Gymnastics has found its new prince – Gao Lei. He finally escaped the shadows of his teammates Dong Dong, the defending Olympic champion, and Tu Xiao, the former World Champion, as he claimed his first World individual title last Sunday, making himself the new Olympic favorite.

To prove her superiority in the sport, Gao had to defeat his compatriots first before being allowed to take on the world. At the World Championships in Odense, Gao had already won a major battle after surpassing his teammates, Dong and Tu, in the qualification rounds. In the individual event finals, the 23-year-old Chinese gymnast flawlessly performed a routine that comprises of six triple saltos, earning himself a World gold medal. 

After turning his third-place finish in the 2014 World Championships into a second-place finish this year, Belarusian gymnast Uladzilau Hancharou proved himself to be a worthy opponent for the Olympics next year. Hancharou, a 19-year old gymnast who will turn 20 tomorrow (December 2), finished just 0.035 points ahead of the bronze medalist Andrey Yudin. The battle for the world titles was very tight, with the fourth and fifth placer Masaki Ito and Dmitry Ushakov both less than half of a point behind the silver medalist Hancharou.

Women's Trampoline: Li Dan makes a podium comeback

China’s 27-year-old trampoline gymnast Li Dan has got through the highs and lows of a long international career and is once again a World Champion, five years after claiming her 2010 World Championships individual gold medal

The Chinese gymnast endured the pressure of having to perform last in the Women’s individual event finals, but still managed to execute a wonderful performance that showcased her remarkable talent, something she rarely does in an international competition. Li Dan’s magnificent and complicated routine was enough to surpass her teammate, Liu Lingling – the former World Champion – who executed a less complicated yet dazzling routine. 

Meanwhile, Belarusian gymnast Tatsiana Piatrenia kicked the reigning Olympic champion Rosannagh Maclennan out of the podium to win her first-ever individual World title since 12 years ago.

China’s Olympic Champions Dethroned

Neither Dong Dong, the Olympic Champion in the 2012 Summer Games nor He Wenna, the 2008 Olympic gold medalist, has been able to make it past the semi-final round of the Odense Championships, which was a surprise for Chinese gymnast Dong, who has always been on top of the podium at every international competition since 2007.

Dong, considered as the most successful trampoline athlete since the legendary Olympic trampoline champion Alexander Moskalenko, was overshadowed by the remarkable displays of his younger teammates, who advanced to the two-per-country finals ahead of him.

Meanwhile, He Wenna, has failed to finish her performance after hitting the trampoline padding.

First countries qualify for the Rio Olympic Games

In the Men’s competition, Japan, Russia and China have successfully earned two Olympic places in Odense for the Rio Olympic Games next year, while Belarus and France earned one Olympic spot each. In the Women’s competition, China, Great Britain and Belarus each earned two Olympic berth for their country.

Numerous other countries will fight for an Olympic spot at the Olympic Test Event in Rio de Janeiro next April. In total, 16 men and 16 women will participate in the Trampoline portion of the Olympic Games.

The biggest sporting event on the globe, the 2016 Rio Olympic Games will take place in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil on August 5-21, 2016. 

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Great Britain Showcases a Strong Start in Odense

Great Britain demonstrated a strong start on the first day of the 2015 World Trampoline Gymnastics, Tumbling and Double-Mini Trampoline Championships in Odense, Denmark, making six finals and four semi-finals on both the trampoline and tumbling disciplines.

For the trampoline gymnasts, this competition will serve as the qualifying event for the Summer Olympic Games in Rio next year, wherein the top eight finalists will automatically secure an Olympic place and the rest of the top 24 semi-finalist will get a second chance and proceed at the Olympic test event in Rio next year. Great Britain has achieved two spots in the women’s individual semi-final and one spot in the men’s event, which means the country, at the very least, have successfully secured three spots in the test event next year.

In the women’s event, it was Pamela Clark, a member of the gold-medal-winning team at the 2014 Trampoline European Championships, who secured the highest rank for Great Britain, after finishing sixth place. The British gymnast showed no signs of nervousness and remained calm throughout her performances, and she executed two remarkable routines which earned her a total score of 101.135. 

Three-consecutive British champion Bryony Page also displayed a great performance at the qualifying rounds, she executed two clean routines to secure the 10th place after obtaining a total score of 100.715. Kat Driscoll, 2012 Olympian Kat Driscoll carried a very confident aura in her 8th World championship appearance to finish 12th with a total score of 100.440. 

Amanda Parker also remained calm all throughout her performance to finish with a total score of 98.200. However, even though she managed to make it to the top 24, she won’t be able to make it on the individual semi-finals since only three gymnasts per country can qualify. The British women’s team also finished second ahead of Russia in the team event finals.

Pamela was very delighted with the performances of her teammates, “I’m really happy, it was a little bit unexpected, but I think the work not only from me but the team and the coaches and support staff too has obviously paid off, not just for me but with all the other girls. I’m just going into the semi-finals with a clear head and then it’s just another competition again. Hopefully I will do another good performance and see where that takes me.”

Additionally, Bryony stated: “I think I’m more relieved than anything, my routines were a bit shaky because I was quite nervous but overall I’m really happy because when I was in the moment I felt strong.”

Kat was also very pleased with the results but she hopes for a much better performance in the semi-finals. “I’m obviously pleased but I know I’ve got improvements to make, which hopefully we can do come semi-finals. We have got team finals tomorrow, so we can use that as a kind of rehearsal as it’s a zero final and one voluntary routine, the same as the semi-final, and the see where we go from there.”

In the qualification rounds of the men’s trampoline event, Nathan Bailey secured the top spot for Great Britain after finishing 14th with his two remarkable performances which earned him a total score of 105.480. His 14th place finish earned Great Britain men’s team a sure spot in the test event next year, still with a possibility of making it to the finals and secure an Olympic place. This was a very remarkable finish for the GB men’s team as there were no male participants in the previous Olympics.

Nathan said after: “I’m so pleased, it was the goal coming into these championship to make that top 24. I’m in a really good position and I am really happy with my performance and looking forward for what’s to come over the next few days.”

The competition resumes today, 27th of November (Friday) with the trampoline team finals, the women’s tumbling team finals and the double-mini trampoline qualifications and women’s team final.

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Gymnasts To Take a Huge Leap Towards Olympics

There is less than 9 months left before the 2016 Rio Olympics finally starts, and the top Trampoline gymnasts from all over the world are getting ready to take a huge leap to finally reach their Olympic dreams at the 31st World Trampoline Gymnastics Championships in Odense, Denmark this Thursday.

This year’s edition of the Trampoline Championships will serve as a qualifying event for next year’s Rio 2016 Olympic Games. Top eight gymnasts will automatically qualify for the 2016 Olympic Games, while those who will make it to the top 16 will get a second chance to secure a berth at the Olympic Test Event in Rio next April.

Aside from Trampoline, which has been a part of the Olympic program since the year 2000, World titles in Synchronized Trampoline, Double-mini Trampoline and Tumbling can also be earned at the World Championships in Odense. In addition, the gymnasts who will participate in these three disciplines will also get a chance to qualify for the World Games 2017 in Wroclaw, Poland – the “Olympics for non-Olympic disciplines”.

Return of the Olympic champions

Three Olympic champions will make an appearance in Odense to compete against the World’s top Trampoline gymnasts. Dong dong, a Chinese Trampoline gymnast, was a three-time World gold-medalist (2009, 2010 and 2013) and an Olympic Champion in the 2012 Summer Games. Another Chinese Trampolinist, He Wenna, who won the gold medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics, will also be present in Odense. Canada’s defending Olympic Champion, Rosannagh MacLennan, will also make an appearance in the World Championships.

Aside from the three Olympic Champions, some other remarkable gymnasts will also show up in Odense Championships. Another Canadian gymnast, 2003 World champion Karen Cockburn, who hasn’t own any individual World titles since but holds three Olympic medals (bronze in 2000 Olympics and silvers in 2004 and 2008 Summer Games). Ekaterina Khilko, 2008 Olympic bronze medallist, Jason Burnett and Dmitry Ushakov, silver medallists in 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games respectively will also compete in Odense.

China, an enduring dynasty

No other team in Odense appears to be as supercharged as China, which will showcase five individual World Champions and two Olympic gold medallists. In the men’s competition, 2012 Olympic gold medallist Dong Dog and defending World champion Tu Xiao will try to hold off the charge of younger compatriots Gao Lei and Xiao Jinyu for the two spots available per country in the medal round. Making it to the finals would prove that they are still the best Chinese trampolinist of all time, but Gao was proved to be a tough opponent in the past two seasons, after beating both his rivals multiple times in World Cup competition.

All of the four Chinese Trampoline gymnasts, (Li Dan, He Wenna, and Liu Lingling) proved to have what it takes to win the World Title, having already won the World titles in 2010, 2011 and 2014 Championships respectively. On the other hand, Zhong Xingping, was a 2013 World runner up.

The age-proof veterans

Four veteran Trampoline gymnasts, Nikolai Kazak(38), Karen Cockburn(35), Ekaterina Khilko(33), and Tatsia Piatrenia(34), proves that age is just a number, and they are set to compete against younger gymnasts in Odense. Still at their peak performance, each of these veterans could probably contend against the world’s top trampolinist. Canadian gymnast Cockburn, the gymnast who won the most Olympic medals in the Trampoline gymnastics history, is aspiring to make her fifth Olympic appearance in Rio next summer, just like Uzbekistan’s Khilko, 2008 Olympic bronze medalist.

Tatsiana Piatrenia, a Belarusian gymnast, who won the gold medal in Synchro Trampoline competition in 2003 proved that she still has what it takes after winning the Loulé World Cup, the finale of the 2015 FIG World Cup series, last month in Portugal. With Synchro partner Uladzislau Hancharou, Kazak became the silver medalist in 2014, 20 years after his World Championships Debut.

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