Azerbaijan Boosts Competence in Gymnastics

Over the past few years, Azerbaijan has made a pretty huge step towards the development of gymnastics in the country. Several of their national gymnasts have managed to participate and display strong performances in various international competitions. Moreover, the country has a history of hosting a number of big sporting events.

Noha Abou Shabana, a technical delegate of the International Gymnastics Federation, has witnessed the development of the sport in the country. She noted that Azerbaijan has become really serious towards the progress of gymnastics in the country that it has managed to establish its own competitive school.

Dress Rehearsal of the FIG World Cup Final's Opening Ceremony

She also mentioned that Azerbaijan is more than ready to host the FIG World Cup Final in Rhythmic Gymnastics. She noted that the country has great experience in organizing competitions and their organizers are truly an expert in their field. 

The National Gymnastics Arena in Baku is very well prepared to host the competition, Abou Shabana said, adding that the organizers and the Gymnastics Federation of Azerbaijan have done an impressive work. 

The FIG Technical Delegate mentioned that the country has already managed to develop its own basis; it has a very competitive gymnastics school and only few countries have such facilities with excellent conditions. 

FIG World Cup Final’s Opening Ceremony to Feature Azerbaijan’s Beauties

The athletes and audiences will have the opportunity to witness the natural attractions of Azerbaijan as the national gymnasts aim to exhibit the country’s beauties at the opening ceremony of the FIG World Cup Final in Rhythmic Gymnastics in Baku. 

“We would like to display Azerbaijan’s beauties at the opening ceremony,” said Mariana Vasileva, the country’s national head coach and the director of the competition’s opening ceremony.

“Most of our guest have been to Baku before and have seen its beauties,” Vasileva said. “There are many places in Azerbaijan which are worth seeing.”

She mentioned that the opening ceremony’s composition is based on the novella “The Little Prince”, which is written by Antoine de Saint-Exupery.

“The composition will last 20 minutes and will be accompanied by Azerbaijani national music,” she said. 

The FIG World Cup Final in Rhythmic Gymnastics will be held in Baku, Azerbaijan on July 22-24, giving the national crowd a chance to witness the strong performances of the participants two weeks before the start of the Rio Olympics. 

A total of 26 gymnasts and 9 teams will participate at the first two days of the competition to fight for the all-around medals. The apparatus event finals will take place on the event’s last day.

The first day of the competition will feature a magnificent opening ceremony, directed by the national head coach Mariana Vasileva, followed by the traditional Gala on the final day of the competition in Baku.

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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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Success of British Team in Glasgow inspires Jay Thompson

Jay Thompson, a gymnast from South Essex Gymnastics Club admits that the remarkable accomplishments of his teammates at the recently held World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Glasgow has encouraged him to go back to gymnastics.

The 19-year-old gymnast, who is currently recovering slowly after suffering from a dislocated elbow, was left with no choice but to watch his teammates Max Whitlock and Brinn Bevan as they fight for Great Britain in Glasgow.

Despite that, the outstanding medal-winning performances of his colleagues has inspired him to fight his way back to the sport.

“I’m really proud of how well they did but I’m jealous as well because it’s something I want to be doing as well,” Thompson said.

“Due to circumstances I couldn’t be there taking part but it’s certainly something that motivates me because I’ve seen how successful they are and I want that too.”

Thompson watched the opening day of the competition in Glasgow, where he witnessed the World Championships debut of Reiss Beckford, a gymnast who also came from South Essex Gymnastics Club. 

Thompson believes that he is also capable of achieving the accomplishments that his colleagues have attained.

“It’s seems more achievable for me now and it’s definitely something that could happen,” said Thompson.

“However, I’m working on getting back fit at the moment and I can’t afford to rush back.”

The injury, which he had acquired during the course of his training, has led him to have his Achilles stitched during his surgery.

Nevertheless, he is glad with the progress that he is making.

“I’m 10 weeks post op and things are starting to pick up for me now,” said Thompson.

“I’m managing to do some stuff in the gym and I can do a lot more than last year when my elbow injury was a lot worse.”

“Now I can do everything but floor and vault so I’ll be making sure they will be strong when I get back.”

The19-year-old gymnast also hopes to get back to the sport sooner to make it to the Olympic selection in Rio next summer.

“In my mind it will be a massive struggle but I’ll still be pushing as hard as I can for Rio,” said Thompson.

“There are the Europeans as well and I’ll be pushing to back on all six by the time the British Championships comes around.

“But for now it’s just about working hard in training. I’ve been massively lonely training on my own.

“I’ve missed the guys a lot so it’s great to have them back here again.”

Jay Thompson was eager to express his gratitude to his sponsors, Paul Lancaster, MyProtein and Groovy Food Company for their unending support . 

Great Britain Secured Team Olympic Berth

The British men’s gymnastics team have successfully secured their spot for the Olympic Games in Rio next year after confirming their place at the Artistic Gymnastics Championships team finals in Glasgow.

The countries who made it to the top eight of the team competition have acquired guaranteed spot in Rio Games next year, and with a finishing score of 354.417, the Great Britain has proved enough.

The accomplishment of the British men’s team came after the success of the women’s team, who have also secured their Olympic spot for Rio after taking the third place in the team finals in Glasgow – Britain’s best finish in an Olympic qualifying competition.

The British men’s winning team was comprised of Max Whitlock, Brinn Bevan, Nile Wilson, Dan Purvis, Kristian Thomas and Louis Smith.

“Qualifying is almost the most difficult as lots of things are going through your head,” Purvis told british-gymnastics.org. “But when it comes to the final you can just go for it, so hopefully we can improve even more.”

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

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Uchimura's Secret To Success

Japanese gymnastics legend Kohei Uchimura proudly raised his hands and held up six fingers after winning his sixth-consecutive World all-around title at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships last week.

“I wanted to show that just one hand is not enough (to count the number of World titles that I won).” Uchimura said. His words clearly shows his pride on remaining as the greatest gymnast of all time ever since he got his first World all-around title in 2009. Ever since, he has successfully defended his winning streak and has not suffered any losses in the individual all-around World competitions (including the 2012 Summer Olympics). That’s probably because he was endowed with all the traits required to become the “king of gymnastics”. 

Mitsuo Tsukahara, the Vice President of the Japanese Gymnastics Association, who owns a total of five Olympic gold medals, said, “There used to be quite a large number of champions about 170 centimeters."

He was pertaining to, for example, Vitaly Venediktovich Scherbo (169cm), a former Belarusian artistic gymnast who holds a record total of 23 World Championship medals. In comparison, Uchimura is 162 centimeters tall, giving the overall impression that he has a small body frame with bulging muscles. 

Hiroyuki Tomita, a member of International Gymnastic Federation’s (FIG) technical committee, said, "There are body types that are advantageous to compete in individual all-around world championships."

During the time of Scherbo, the gymnasts were focusing on improving the precision of their routines to attain the “Perfect 10” score. However, since the gymnastics scoring system was changed in 2006, gymnasts started competing for a combination of D-score (difficulty score), which is based on the difficulty of the gymnast’s exercise and performance and E-score (Execution score) which evaluates the preciseness and beauty of the performance. That means, the more difficult the routine is, the better the score the gymnast could obtain.

On the individual all-around competitions, the athletes are required to use their muscles in order to perform their routines. Male gymnasts, especially, use those bulging muscles in gymnastics events like the floor exercise, and the vault, which requires jumping power, horizontal bars that requires a strong core muscle, as well as the rings, which requires brute strength. The harder the technique the gymnast use, the greater the burden their bodies would suffer, increasing the likelihood of injury.

Despite being the qualifying event for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio De Janeiro, the top athletes of Brazil and U.S. failed to make it to the 2015 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Glasgow, because of existing physical injuries. Uchimura, on the other hand, was gifted with a physique that was more resistant from suffering the burdens on joints and muscles. As a matter of fact, “King Kohei” has never suffered any major injuries.

Japanese Gymnastics Federation’s Vice President Tsukahara said. “What gymnasts of today need is muscle endurance that is necessary to perform many difficult techniques.” 

The gymnast’s muscle endurance can be measured by observing their landing – the technique that the athletes are at the end of their performances – in the events such as horizontal bars. Considering that the gymnasts are using difficult routines (which tests the limits of their physical abilities) in the competitions that they take part in – they tend to get exhausted at the end of their performances. For that reason, only a small number of athletes were able to perform their routines as precise as it needs to be. On the other hand, mainly because of his excellent muscle endurance, Uchimura was able to hold his body in any position that he wants to.

Even after obtaining his third Olympic qualification, Uchimura said, "The Olympics are a different dimension. They won't go the same way as the world championships." Aside from his instinctive qualities, Uchimura also possesses an inquisitive mind to master the sport of gymnastics since he is more familiar with the struggles and hardships in gymnastics more than anyone else. Due to his amazing qualities, no one can tell if there is a limit on how far the “king of gymnastics” can go.

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Japan Takes the Lead in the Men's Qualification at the World Championships 2015

On the first day of the men’s qualifications, Japan took the lead, finishing almost two points ahead of its rival China (358.884-357.027). None of them was perfect, however. Even Kohei Uchimura, regarded as the greatest gymnast of all time, made a mistake in his performance on the floor event while executing a tucked double-double in the fourth rotation. 

Nevertheless, he still proved his superiority by executing an astonishing performance on the rest of his routine. He finished first place in the all-around qualifications after posting a score of 90.564.

“My head hit the floor and I felt uncomfortable… I felt dizzy,” Uchimura said. “It could have affected my last two events but I managed to compete with them by concentrating.”

A disappointed look was seen on Uchimura’s face after his fall on the floor exercise, of which he blamed for having to wait a long time before he can perform his routine, as the judges were busy deliberating over his team mate’s score. 

"I waited a long time and my body cooled down,"Uchimura said.

"So I couldn't move as I wanted to. At the beginning of the exercise it was fine, but at the end, I couldn't perform as I had wished."

"It might have been better to come down from the podium and rest, which I didn't do," he said. "This is not an excuse. I have experienced long waiting times before."

Japan began on the vault, where “King Kohei” performed a clean roundoff half-on to Randi to earn his highest score of 15.633. The Japanese team took the lead on the floor, vault and the high bar exercise after the fourth subdivision. 

Two Japanese newcomers Naoto Hayasaka and Kazuma Kaya had mixed results in their country’s first place ranking. Kaya earned a score of 88.431, making him the second best Japanese all-arounder. Additionally, his score of 15.300 on the pommel horse was the team’s highest score on the event. Hayasaka had difficulties on the floor and pommel horse event but his score of 15.200 on the vault makes up for it.

"Kazuma gave a really good performance," Uchimura said. "I feel the younger teammates really helped the team a lot. I can feel their youthful energy."

On the other note, Deng Shudi, the leader of the Chinese team sits in the third place in the all-around event, despite falling in the first rotation on pommel horse. The Chinese team recovered after earning the highest scores on rings (60.266), with the help of Liu Yang’s score of 15.866, and on parallel bars, where the Chinese team posted a score of 62.099.

"I am satisfied but I was not perfect," Liu said. "Rings is my strongest apparatus, but today I did not feel strong enough."

China, whose team has won every major international competition over the last decade, appeared rough in areas, so, with the help of Uchimura, this could be the Japanese team’s biggest opportunity to finally claim the gold in the team event.

Over the past four World Championships and the last two Olympic Games, Japan has always been second to its rival, China. Nothing was more heartbreaking than being a tenth-of-a-point behind China in the 2014 Summer Olympics.

Great Britain, currently sitting in the third place, competed in the first subdivision. After struggling on the high bar, where both Brinn Bevan and Max Whitlock fell while trying to execute their routine, the British team got on a roll. Similar to Uchimura’s experience, Bevan was also forced to rechalk a few times while waiting for his turn to perform. The World Championship newcomer shook it off and finished with a score of 14.666 on both the floor and pommel horse event.

The British team obtained the second-highest score on the floor and the best score on pommel horse, after Louis Smith and Max Whitlock obtained a score of 15.533 and 15.266, respectively.

Daniel Purvis is currently ranked second in the all-around qualifications. He performed well on parallel bars, as was Nile Wilson, who amassed a score of 15.500. After Bevan committed a mistake while performing his Tsuk-double pike on vault, Kristian Thomas saved the event by executing a wonderful Yurchenko-double pike.

"We want to do as well as we can in the Team Final," Whitlock stated. "We won bronze in the Olympics and were fourth last year, but the potential is there, and it depends what we do on the day to get one of those medal places."

Russia currently sits in 4th place (352.692) paced by the all-arounders Belyavskiy David (88.665), Kuksenkov Nikolai (87.398) and Nargonyy Nikita (87.331).

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Ellie Black Leads Canada as the Country Qualifies for the Rio 2016 Olympics

Last Summer, Ellie Black, a Canadian gymnast, introduced herself to Canadians by winning five medals (three of which are gold) at the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto.

This time, the Halifax-born gymnast has introduced herself to the international stage. At the 2015 World Gymnastics Championships last week, the 20-year-old Canadian athlete delivered an astonishing performance that has put Canada in a hopeful position to qualify for the 2016 Olympics.

With Black leading the pack, the Canadian team managed to finish seventh against 24 other countries, earning her country a spot in the Rio 2016 Olympics. The top eight teams will automatically move forward to the Olympics while teams ranked 9th to 16th will get another chance to secure a berth at the Olympic Test Event on April

“It’s a sigh of relief for the team,” said Kyle Shewfelt, a 2004 Summer Olympic gold medallist. “They don’t have to focus on peaking in April, coming down, and then peaking for the Games. Now, everyone gets to have a nice rest. They can regroup, build up their degree of difficulty and then maybe at the Olympic Games make the team final. And there, anything can happen.”

Now considered as one of the best gymnasts in the world, Black performed a dazzling performance on each of the four events earning her a total score of 57.299 to finish fourth in the all-around competition.

For that reason, she will move forward to the team, all-around and individual final on the balance beam later this week.

“At this World Championships, a lot of people’s eyeballs are bugging out of their head going: ‘Ellie Black – wow, Sneaky, sneaky little Canadian,’” Shewfelt said. “On the Internet, a lot of people in the gymnastic universe are really talking highly about her.”

“What I love about Ellie is that she’s such a rock. She goes in and she’s so confident when she competes. She’s able to stay up on the apparatus. She fights for the tenth (of a point), you can see. And she becomes better in competition than she is in training. And that’s what you want to see from an athlete. You want them to rise.”

While other competitors such as the Romanian team collapsed under the pressure, the Canadian team took the opportunity to move up in the competition.

“It’s kind of surreal at this point,” said Canadian gymnast Brittany Rogers, who attends and competes for the University of Georgia. “We knew that we had a decent shot going into it that we would come top-eight. But we knew anything could happen. It’s gymnastics. Falls happen. Catastrophes happen.”

“We’re feeling fortunate to be here.”

Aside from Canada, the United States, China, Italy, Great Britain, Japan, Russia and the Netherlands are also a part of the top eight teams who will automatically move forward to the 2016 Olympics.

Canada joined the competition on the bubble, but delivered two days of astonishing performances from Ellie Black, Britanny Rogers, Victoria-Kayen Woo, Audrey Rousseau, Sydney Townshend, and Isabella Onyshko.

Aside from that, Onyshko will also move forward to the all-around final after finishing 24th overall.

“This is incredible,” Black commented on the overall results. “It was our goal to come in and do our best for Team Canada and hopefully come in top eight. To come in seventh and qualify a team for the Olympics is amazing. We all had a fantastic day of competition. We all did our best routines and really put everything out there for the team.”

The Canadian women’s team has qualified for the Olympics for two times in a row. At the 2012 Summer Olympic Games, the Canadian team made a history by finishing fifth, Canada’s best-ever Olympic gymnastics team result.

Black learned a valuable lesson at the Championships. She has now become a leader.

No longer a stranger in Canada or in the international stage, she’s now facing the challenge of handling the pressure of expectation.

“We know what she’s capable of,” said women’s artistic gymnastics’ National Team Director Dave Brubaker “I think lately there has been a lot of pressure, because of the Pan-Ams and all of the hype attached to that. So we need her to focus on what makes her successful, not the outcomes.”

Speaking of the outcomes, everything is going well so far.

“The team competition, that was my main goal, to help the team out as much as I could,” Black said. “And then the second individual goal is already accomplished.

“From this, we’re just looking to enjoy the rest of the competition and do our best.”

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Kohei Uchimura: A Japanese Gymnastics Legend

Those who had the opportunity of reaching the podium with Kohei Uchimura depicts him as a remarkable artistic gymnast. “King Kohei”, “The Bolt of Gymnastics”, “Superman”, or in the most positive sense – a “monster” are only some of the titles that are given to this Japanese gymnastics legend. 

Given that he’s a five-time consecutive World all-around champion, this 26-year-old Japanese gymnast can be considered as the greatest male gymnast  of all time.

Aside from his dominance in the World All-around competitions which earned him a spot in the Guiness Book of World Records, Uchimura is captivating for his unending search for perfection, the Holy Grail of Gymnastics. If some in this generation have chosen to perform an increased level of difficulty in exchange of a good execution, Uchimura returns Men’s Artistic Gymnastics to all its nobility.

This search for perfection started since he was still a child. At the age of 3, he learned his first gymnastics skills with the help of his father, Kazuhisa, a former artistic gymnast. His father trained him at his own gymnastics club in Nagasaki. When he was 15 years old, Uchimura travelled to Tokyo to continue his training together with his idol Naoya Tsukahara, a key member of the gold-medal winning Japanese men’s artistic team at the 2004 Summer Olympics. In the year 2007, while still a teenager, Uchimera joined the Japan’s National Team, where he instantly became famous for his astonishing feats.

At the 2008 Summer Olympics, Uchimura was the youngest member of the Japanese Men’s team, but that didn’t stop him from being one of the top performers. Despite the error that Uchimura commited while dismounting at the Pommel horse in the individual all-around final, he still managed to finish with a silver medal to go along with another silver medal in the Olympic team event.

It was in the following year that Uchimura began showing his extraordinary superiority in the sport, after finishing as a World Champion in the 2009 World Gymnastics Championships in London. He finished 2.5 points ahead of the second placer, the same score margin that separated 2nd from the 8th place.

Despite the lack of height, standing only 5 feet 3 inches, that didn’t stop this legendary gymnast from dominating the sport. Not even an injury has managed to hinder his path. At the 2010 World Gymnastics Championships in Rotterdam, despite having a shoulder program, he still managed to defend his World All-around title along with three additional medals.

One year later, he took part in the 2011 World Championships in Tokyo despite experiencing a pain in his calf, but was such a “machine” that he still managed to finish 3 points ahead of the second placer, the same margin that separated 2nd from the 14th place. After winning his third World all-around gold medal, Uchimura earned a standing ovation from the audience that lasted for two minutes upon the completion of his final routine “I thought it was an earthquake. I’ve never received such applause,” he said.

After such a winning streak, getting a gold at the 2012 Summer Olympics was not a surprise anymore. On his way to Rio, the Japanese gymnastics legend displayed no sign of struggle in the 2013 and 2014 World Championships, obtaining another two World titles with little to no difficulty.

However, despite having an impressive collection of World (a total of 16 medals, including 7 gold) and Olympic Medals (five, including 1 gold and 4 silver), there is still one dream that the Olympic champion has yet to fulfill, to win a gold medal with his team at one of the great international competitions. Since 2008, the Chinese team has always been ahead of the Japan at the World Championships and Olympic Games.

Perhaps the Japanese team will eventually end up as gold medalists one of these years, fulfilling Uchimura’s ultimate dream. As of now, “King Kohei” plans to extend his gymnastics adventure until 2020, when Japan will host the Olympics for the first time since 1964.

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Italian Rhythmic Group Looks Forward to 2016 Summer Olympics

After winning the gold medal at the 5 Ribbons event in Rhythmic Group Competition at the 34^th Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships in Stuttgart, the Italian group is more than motivated to move forward as they prepare for the 2016 Summer Olympics.

“We will start to work immediately for the Olympic Games,” the team captain of Italian Group, Marta Pagnini said after the competition.

“We’ll have a rest of course, and then we’ll come back to grow as a team, because we are a very young team. Some girls are really new, so it’s important and necessary to grow together.” She continued.

Italy has been the most prominent country in the field of Group Rhythmic Gymnastics in the recent years, being successful at obtaining the Group All-around titles at the World Championships from 2009-2011. Additionally, the country has also won second in Group All-around event from 2013-2014.

In the 2015 World Championships held recently in Stuttgart, the Italians made some mistakes in their routine which kept them off the podium in the All-around competition. However, these things have not affected the persistence of the group to head into the event finals.  The Italian group (Pagnini, Martina Centofanti, Sofia Lodi, Alessia Maurelli, Camilla Patriarca and Andreea Stefanescu) performed last in the 5 Ribbons event, and the group used that as an opportunity to deliver a dramatic exercise, finishing with 17.900 points, the highest score in the said event.

"We knew that we deserved a medal," said Pagnini. "We worked a lot, and everyone said we had very good compositions. We expected a medal from this World Championships, and we are glad that we could do it."

Still invigorated by the 5 Ribbons victory, the Italian group managed to deliver a great routine with the Hoops and Clubs, almost getting the gold after finishing with a score of 18.100, 0.025 points lower compared to Russia.

The Italian team is still unsure whether to keep their old routines for the Olympics or improvise and develop new routines. "With the medals, maybe we will keep the same routines," Pagnini said. "It depends on our coach, of course."

Above all else, the most important thing is being able to stick as a team, said Pagnini, who, aside from Stefanescu, are the remaining Italian team members that took bronze in the 2012 Summer Olympics. "In Izmir (at the 2014 Worlds), we were a really, really new team," she said. "Some of the girls were really young, and we have a big gap in years between each other. It's not always easy to find the right feeling, but we're working on that."

The 2016 Summer Olympics will be held in Rio de Janeiro from 6th to 21^st of August, 2016. All of the gymnastics events will take place at the Arena Olimpica do Rio (Also known as the HSBC Arena.)

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