FEDERATION INTERNATIONALE DE GYMNASTIQUE MEDIA OPERATIONS

EVENT PREVIEW

Preview Men's Qualifications. THE DOORWAY TO THE FINALS! By Vera Atkinson, FIG Editor. (CHN) NIS FIG Office, August 8, 2008: Saturday 9 August, 2008 will be a nerve-wrecking day for all the participants in the Men’s Qualifications at the National Indoor Stadium in Beijing, because it is the first and vitally important step to the 2008 Olympic medals. The outcome of this event will decide:  The top 8 Teams who will proceed to the Team Final on Monday, 11 August;  The top 24 individuals who will fight for the All-around title and medals on Thursday, 14 August;  The top 8 individuals on each piece of apparatus who will target the highest Olympic honours on 17, 18 and 19 Aug. The 2007 World Championships served as second and last Olympic Qualification (after 2006), and the Team ranking there was as follows: 1. CHN, 2. JPN, 3. GER, 4. USA, 5. KOR, 6. ESP, 7. RUS, 8. ROM, 9. FRAU, 10.ITA, 11. CAN, 12. BLR . All 12 Teams and the 26 individuals (Mixed Groups) will compete in three Subdivisions, according to the draw: The Competition Forman of the Qualification (Competition I) is 6-5-4 (i.e. six gymnasts in the team, 5 to compete on each of the six pieces of apparatus, but only the top 4 scores count towards the Team Total) Every Team’s achievement depends as much on the gymnasts’ qualities and consistency, as on their coach’s’ approach to the event. Who will perform on the day, on which apparatus and in what order, is a key decision made by the coach, which often makes the difference between success and failure. However, at this level of performance the crucial factor to success will be stability.

Subdivision 1: 12:00- 14:06 ITA, ESP, USA, MG2 - 2GBR, ISR, UZB, COL; MG 6- EGY, GRE, GEO, YEM, MG 3- 2 SUI, POL, NED Judging by these Teams’ positions in 2004 (USA- Silver medals, Spain- 10th, Italy 12th), the Americans should lead the field in the first Subdivision. However, they have been very inconsistent in the last two World Championships (13th in Aarhus and then back to the top, in 4th position in Stuttgart). How the recent retirement of the Olympic Champion from this competition, and the warning that his twin- brother Morgan received from the FIG for a positive testing, will have affected the team spirit, could be a major factor in their team

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placing. The latest change in the USA line up was: Alexander Artemev, Bronze medallist on Pommels from the World Championships in Aarhus 2006 replacing . Spain, the sixth best team in Stuttgart’07, has the only gymnast who managed to defend his Olympic title in Athens (, ). They also have one of the best all-arounders in the world, Raphael Martinez (2005 European All-around Champion and 6th in Stuttgart), and some good apparatus specialists (Botella, vault; Carballo, P. Bars). A Team Final is definitely within their reach provided the Spaniards show consistency. The most experienced Team in this Subdivision is Italy, with the 2004 Olympic Champion on High Bar in their ranks together with a group of recognised ring-masters (Angoletti, Coppolino, Morandi). The Italians failed in Aarhus (15th), but managed to qualify for Beijing, last year, in Stuttgart (10th place). It is very possible that some of the individuals in this Subdivision could leave Beijing on a very high note: and Daniel Keatings (GBR), pommels; Alexander Shatilov (ISR), , (POL), vault; Anton Fokin (UZB), all- around; (GRE), High Bar; (NED), P. Bars and High Bar; Claudio Capelli (SUI), all around.

Subdivision 2: 16:00- 18:06 CHN, CAN, RUS, JPN, FRA, MG 4- HUN, CRO, CZE, BRA Could the defending Olympic Champions Japan fight back the mighty , winners in 2000 and current World Champions? With three two time-Olympians (the World Champion , the Olympic Champion on P. Bars from Sydney and ), and three established apparatus masters (CHENG Yibing (), (pommels) and (high bar), the hosts seem unbeatable. What makes them so unique is the extraordinary level of difficulty in their routines, executed with such ease. It is curious to see how Japan, with two Olympic Champions from Athens (Kashima and Tomita), three from their Silver medal team in Stuttgart (Tomita, Nakase and Okiguchi), and two less experienced gymnasts (Sakamoto and Ushimura, 19), will respond to this. The pole player of the Japanese remains the 2005 World Champion . The other strong Japanese all-arounder, Mizutori Hisashi did not make the team. The 1996 Olympic Champions, Russia, went through turmoil in Stuttgart when Krukov and Golotsutskov badly injured themselves on vault. In spite of this, Krukov saved the team’s Olympic Qualification by continuing to compete. The Russians seem to be back on track. A team medal is a possibility, as happened in Aarhus’06 (silver). Position number nine seems to be reserved for France- in Sidney, in Athens and also at the World Championships in Stuttgart. Half the team is well experienced (Caranobe, Cuchera and Karbanenko). The other half is fist time Olympians (Bouhail, Rodrigues and Sabot). As for the 35-year-old, Karbanenko, he remains

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FEDERATION INTERNATIONALE DE GYMNASTIQUE MEDIA OPERATIONS

the ageless pole player of the French, but better chances for finals and medals have Cuchera (P.Bars and High Bar) and Rodrigues (Rings) : Has the Olympic Champion on floor from Athens, , fully recovered from his really bad injury in Stuttgart (broken tibias of both legs)? If this is the case, the Canadians could then repeat their fantastic success in Aarhus (6th place). Special attention here should be paid to Kyle’s potential successor Brandon O’Neil (floor and vault). The individual gymnast not to be missed in this Subdivision - Diego Hypolito (BRA), twice World Champion on Floor (2005, 2007).

Subdivision 3: 20:00-22:06 BLR, KOR, GER, ROM, MG5-2 UKR, SLO, BEL and MG1- LUX, BUL, VEN, PUR, AUS. The final decision-makers! All the teams in this Subdivision have the potential to reach the Final. Of the four teams, the most obvious progress over the last year has been demonstrated by the Germans, 8th in Athens, bronze medallists in Stuttgart. In July they defeated Romania by nearly 9 points. With their proven and tested young leader, Fabian Hambuechen (20), Germany has the chance to repeat what they achieved in front of their home-crowd last September. Korea remains a big question mark and a threat to all. Theirs is the team with the least number of changes in the line-up since Athens, where they took fourth place. Then Kim Dae Eun and Yang Tae Young found themselves in the centre of the judging controversy, as a result of which, they left Athens with silver and bronze medals respectively. 11 out the 12 Olympic Teams competed at the “Good Luck Beijing” tournament, last November; Korea took the bronze medal behind China and Japan. Romania depends very much on the level of recovery of the multiple world champion and Olympic medallist on vault and floor Marian Dragulescu. They wrote history for their country by winning the Team bronze in Athens. Defending their position in Beijing will be a difficult task. The 2001 World Champions, Belarus, will compete in these without the great , who retired after Athens. If they can hit faultless routines, their technical brilliance could bring them back among the elite. The team was very impressive in Aarhus’06 (5th place), but just a year later, in Stuttgart, sank into the 12th position. Their strongest individual medal contender remains Dmitry Karpiarovich, on vault and Denis Savenkov, bronze medallists in the all-around in 2005. Most decorated individuals to watch in this Subdivision are the 2004 Olympic Champion on P. Bars from the Ukraine Valery Goncharov, the twice World Champion on the same apparatus Mitja Petkovsek Slovenia, and the former twice World Champion on rings and floor and Olympic silver medallist on rings in Athens’04, Jordan Jovchev from Bulgaria. In his last, a record Fifth Olympic Games, the 35-year-old Jovchev will, once again fight for a medal on his “crown” discipline- the rings/VA.

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