Hot and successful course!

Hong Kong (HKG), August 05 -11, 2010: With thirty one degrees with 87% of humidity (!), the International Judges’ Course for Aerobic Gymnastics was held at the Olympic House in Hong Kong and conducted by MS Tammy Yagi-Kitagawa (JPN), FIG AER TC vice President.  The course brought together 17 participants, 14 from Hong Kong and 3 from China.

All the participants were working in the day time so the course included some evening sessions with an extra day to cover the necessary curriculum.  In spite of them working, excellent results were put and the course went very successful.

We would like to express our great appreciation to Ms Siu-Yin Cheung, the Chairman of the Gymnastics Association of Hong Kong to host this course and also to Mr. Albert Ng, the Director and all the staff (Cindy Au, Jonathan Tam) of the Association for their cooperation.

FIG Aerobic Gymnastics World Series
Las Vegas (USA), July 23 – 24, 2010

LAUSANNE (SUI), FIG Office, July 22, 2010: At the first World Series event to follow the 11th Aerobic Gymnastics World Championships held last month in Rodez (FRA), international world-class gymnasts will gather in Las Vegas (USA) from July 23 – 24 for the final showdown this year.

15 Individual Women, 12 Individual Men, seven Mixed Pairs, six Trios and two Groups are registered to take part in this 2010 Aerobic Gymnastics World Series ultimate meet in the hopes of collecting points to up their FIG World Rankings.

In the Women’s category, world Bronze medallist from New Zealand Angela McMillan is the hot favourite, while title holder Kieran Gorman (AUS), who also garnered Bronze in Rodez, and finalist Benjamin Garavel of France lead the Men’s field. Mixed Pair Aurélie Joly / Julien Chaninet (FRA), who ran off with a world Silver last month are looking at competition hailing from Columbia, Mexico and Korea. In Trios, the Philippines and France have entered one team each, while Colombia and Korea go in with two Trios. Mexico and France are the sole countries represented in Groups.

Click here for the complete entry list!

The American hosts will be represented by Marlana Roach and Jennifer Nowak in the Individual Women’s category. The Association of National Aerobic Championships (ANAC) organises this FIG World Series event in conjunction with the 21st International Aerobic Championships, the 13th International Youth Aerobic Championships and the 6th World Junior Aerobic Showcase, all held at Las Vegas’ Red Rock Resort.

2009 Title Holders

Individual Men – GORMAN Kieran (AUS) – 20.500
Individual Women – SHIN Hyun – Kyung (KOR) – 19.750
Mixed Pairs – PARK / LEE (KOR) – 20.050
Trios – SONG / HWANG / KIM (KOR) – 20.675

11th Aerobic Gymnastics World Championships
Rodez (FRA), June 18 – 20, 2010

LAUSANNE, FIG Office, June 29, 2010: A day after the 11th Aerobic Gymnastics World Championships in Rodez (FRA), the Technical Committee invited six gymnasts to stay an extra day to shoot videos of various elements.

Huang Jinxuan, Che Lei, Tao Le from China, Morgan Jaquemin and Benjamin Garavel from France and Cristina Simona Nedelcu, Oana Corina Constantin and Tudorel Valentin Mavrodineanu from Romania performed the selected elements facing the FIG camera.

This footage will be a valuable tool for gymnasts, coaches, judges and will be available for the coming courses to be held during the current cycle.

11th Aerobic Gymnastics World Championships
Rodez (FRA), June 18 – 20, 2010

Finals Individual Men, Mixed Pairs, Groups

RODEZ (FRA), FIG Office, June 20, 2010: The Amphithéâtre was set today for the ultimate acts of the 11th Aerobic Gymnastics World Championships in Rodez (FRA), featuring Finals in Individual Men, Mixed Pairs and Groups. Fans were caught up in the hype as they got ready to witness a fantastic show!

Individual Men

Today’s Individual Men’s Final promised to be a thrilling event with another dual between defending champion Ivan Parejo (ESP) and France’s Morgan Jacquemin, who topped the ranking in Qualifications by a comfortable margin. Who will make it to the top?

Also part of the show and on a medal hunt are Romanian Mircea Zamfir and China’s Zhou Xiaofeng, closely followed by Kieran Gorman (AUS) and Emanuele Pagliuca (ITA), who tied in the Qualifying rounds.

Here’s how it all went down:

First on the Aerobic floor tonight was Kieran Gorman, an ambitious 22 year old challenger from Australia. He presented a fluent and creative routine, powerfully executed, and was visibly pleased with his 21.500.

Reflected in the crowd’s excitement, France’s Morgan Jacquemin and Benjamin Garavel were next. A technically clean performance with high difficulty and artistry, Jacquemin seemed to ease through is exercise: 22.250 points! Too early to tell whether he’s pocketed the title?

Garavel, enthusiastically supported by the public, improved his score from the Qualifications to 20.950. A good achievement for the 20 year old Frenchman.
Hungary’s Zsolt Roik, qualified in last position, was unable to do better today: 19.800.

All eyes were then on Zhou Xiaofeng of China. The 24 year old improved his routine (21.450) since we last saw him in 2008 in Ulm, and placed a provisional third in the wake of Jacquemin and Gorman.

With loud, vocal support from the grandstands, title holder Ivan Parejo made his appearance next. A mistake in landing one jump cost the Spaniard points in Execution and a lower Difficulty than his challengers resulted in a provisional third place, tying with Gorman.

Second to last competitor in this category Emanuele Pagliuca (ITA), was not in the running for a medal rank. His 21.300 ultimately placed him sixth.

Exciting till the end, Romanian Mircea Zamfir’s performance concluded the Final. His flawless routine, boasting the highest Execution score of this event, was rewarded with a total of 21.600 points and second place.

That meant the World title for Jacquemin, Bronze for Gorman and fallen champion Parejo on rank four.

Gold JACQUEMIN Morgan FRA 22.250
Silver ZAMFIR Mircea ROU 21.600
Bronze GORMAN Kieran AUS 21.500

4 PAREJO Ivan ESP 21.500
5 ZHOU Xiaofeng CHN 21.450
6 PAGLIUCA Emanuele ITA 21.300
7 GARAVEL Benjamin FRA 20.950
8 ROIK Zsolt HUN 19.800

Mixed Pairs

With the start of the Mixed Pairs Final, spectators got revved up about what came next.

Will the young Spanish Pair confirm their first qualifying position over defending World Champions Aurélie Joly / Julien Chaninet and the strong Romanian duo Tudorel Valentin Mavrodineanu / Cristina Simona Nedelcu, Bronze medallists in 2008?

Will Italy’s Emanuele Pagliuca / Giulia Bianchi, 4th in qualifying, make the grade to the podium?

What can be expected from the two Korean Pairs, who surprised us yesterday during preliminaries?

One thing was guaranteed: the competition would be exciting until the end, with the Romanians lining up last!

Spaniards Vicente Lli and Sara Moreno were first to set their marks and they did an impressive job of it! Topping their leading score from the preliminaries, the duo set the bar high for their challengers: 21.750!

The French title holders were next to compete. As expressive as ever, Joly / Chaninet also improved, but their 21.100 point score placed them behind the Spanish.

Lining up next, Korea’s second entry featuring Guontaeck Kim and Hyun Kyung Shin gave an entertaining performance worth 20.500 points.

With Italian charm and style, Pagliuca and Bianchi performed, scoring a solid 20.800. But would that be enough for a spot on the podium?

France’s second Pair came on stage to the cries of a fiery crowd, Gaylord Oubrier and Eugenie Raphael. The duo overtook the Koreans with a total of 20.550, provisional place four.

Though improving from the Qualifications, Garsevan Dzhanazyan and Polina Amosenok of Russia did not make it to the top. 20.500 and rank seven in the end.
With a fresh sense of style and precise synchronisation, Korea’s Yeon Sun Park and Kyung Ho Lee presented next. Their routine was judged 19.950 due to a lack in Difficulty.

Last competitors and decisive for this Final, Romania’s Mixed Pair, Tudorel Valentin Mavrodineanu / Cristina Simona Nedelcu, were hoping to keep their second position from Qualification, but their total of 21.000 points placed them behind Spain and France.

Gold Spain 2 LLI Vicente / MORENO Sara ESP 21.750
Silver France 1 JOLY Aurelie / CHANINET Julien FRA 21.100
Bronze Romania 1 MAVRODINEANU Tudorel Valentin / NEDELCU Cristina Simona ROU 21.000

4 Italy 2 PAGLIUCA Emanuele / BIANCHI Giulia ITA 2 20.800
5 France 2 OUBRIER Gaylord / RAPHAEL Eugenie FRA 20.550
6 Korea 2 KIM Guontaeck / SHIN Hyun Kyung KOR 20.500
7 Russia 1 DZHANAZYAN Garsevan / AMOSENOK Polina RUS 20.500
8 Korea 1 PARK Yeon Sun / LEE Kyung Ho KOR 19.950

Groups

In this category, Romania and Russia qualified with two Groups each, whereby Romania 1 tied with China at the top during Qualifications, way ahead of the field. Will the Romanians defeat title holder China today? Russia won the Bronze in 2008. Will they make it to the medal ranks again, or can Korea confirm their third rank during the preliminaries?

It’s also interesting to observe what the French hosts are up to today. Second in 2008 in Ulm (GER), they just missed out on a medal at the World Games in Kaohsiung (TPE) last year, placing 4th.

First on stage was China. Breathtakingly artistic, exceptionally synchronised and with an interesting final pose, the Group set the bar high with 21.550 points.

With charming choreography and huge support from the public, France performed next. Low Difficulty marks resulted in a disappointing 20.560. The delegation appealed the jury’s decision and the Difficulty score was revised and upped to 3.789, which resulted in a total of 21.139.

On a side note: At the 2008 World Championships in Ulm, France ranked first in Groups ahead of China. Once an appeal had been made by China and the score had been revised, China placed first with 21.650 points. The difference between the two scores was a mere .2 at that time.

Having qualified last, the Group from Italy then took to the floor. Their solid routine got 20.107 points, and the Group placed three for the moment.

Romania then presented their two Groups. The country’s second entry, an all women Group, performed first, scoring 20.234, followed by their male compatriots and leaders of the preliminaries. With a lower score in artistry than the Chinese title holders, flawless execution resulted in high results, and the Group took the lead with a total 21.650.

Russia’s all women Group improved on the Qualifications and overtook its female challengers from Romania: 20.434 and sixth place.

Korea’s gymnasts continued to impress in Rodez with a clean performance in Groups today. Third in Qualification, the six men were aiming for that podium! Unfortunately for them, relatively low Difficulty marks resulted in a final score of 20.500 and place four for the time being.

Russia lined up last but not least, performing to powerful beats with their all men Group. They ranked fourth in Qualification and had to be counted in for the medal ranks. With France’s mark upped to 21.139, Russia’s 20.850 ultimately placed them fourth ahead of Korea. Russia’s delegation also appealed the Difficulty score, but it remained unchanged after revision.

Gold Romania 1 ROU 21.650
Silver China CHN 21.550
Bronze France 1 FRA 21.139

4 Russia 2 RUS 20.850
5 Korea KOR 20.500
6 Russia 1 RUS 20.434
7 Romania 2 ROU 20.234
8 Italy ITA 20.107

We have witnessed wonderful performances and exciting competitions here in Rodez, and are happy to see the overall level of Aerobic Gymnastics on the rise; and for a sport that is making headway in so many countries, that’s good news!

The 11th World Championships ended with a colorful Closing Ceremony marked by creative and contemporary shows performed by host nation France, Romania, China and Russia. Closing remarks were delivered by FIG Vice President Michel Léglise (FRA) who presented the FIG Medal of Recognition to the three Vice Presidents of the Local Organising Committee Yves Estivals, Alain Boude and Marin Bernussou.

Our thanks to the gymnasts for their participation, passion and commitment; we look forward to seeing you again in 2012 at the 12th Aerobic Gymnastics World Championships!

11th Aerobic Gymnastics World Championships
Rodez (FRA), June 18 – 20, 2010

Finals - Day 1

Individual Women

RODEZ (FRA), FIG Office, June 20, 2010: It’s the 3rd for Marcela! After Nanjing (CHN) in 2006 and Ulm (GER) in 2008, Brazilian Marcela Matos Lopez took her 3rd consecutive world title in Rodez…and with style. Her competition was tough and came primarily in the form of Italian Giulia Bianchi (2nd) and the indefatigable Angela McMillan (NZL) in 3rd. Marcela is the best in every category: Artistic, Execution and a 3.650 in Difficulty (1 tenth of a point behind the Italian).

In 2009, Marcela also took home the Gold medal from the World Games in Kaoshiung (TPE).

A little farther on in the ranking, Spain’s Sara Moreno was hard put to hide her frustration when she finished in 4th, just 5 hundredths of a point ahead of China’s Huang Jinxuan, whose sense of artistic expression did not go unnoticed!

For Marcela, the years just seem to melt together!

Ranking

1. Marcela Matos Lopez BRA 21.800
2. Giulia Bianchi ITA 21.350
3. Angela McMillan NZL 21.250
4. Sara Moreno ESP 21.100
5. Huang Jinxuan CHN 21.050
6. Cristina Simona Nedelcu ROU 20.600
7. Denitsa Parichkova BUL 20.450
8. Roypim Ngampeerapong THA 20.200

Trios

Suspense was high as France, second to compete, took the lead. China 2, Russia 2, Italy and Vietnam couldn’t beat her. But Romanians Zamfir, Porime Tolan and Mavrodineanu performed a string of successful Difficulties (4.500)! France, with only 3.900, would pay the price in its final score.

With Jacquemin, Garavel Nicolas and Benjamin, France maintained its place on the podium and made the public proud. A second medal for the organising country, in addition to its Silver in Teams.

Big disappointment for the Russians who came in 4th and 5th.The two trios consistently came up short of their adversaries across the board.

Ranking

1. China 1 22.250
2. Romania 1 22.100
3. France 2 21.250
4. Russia 1 20.942
5. Russia 2 20.750
6. Vietnam 20.739
7. China 2 20.400 
8. Italy 2  20.300