November 23, 2008

Um, Italian Gymnastics Federation?

Next time you hold your Milan Grand Prix, you may want to consider not doing it at the same weekend as the Massilia Cup and the Pan-American Gymnastics Union. You'll draw a better field that way. Also, you may want to consider actually publishing the results. We kind of gather from your "report" that He Kexin won bars, Lia Parolari won beam, Sandra Izbasa won floor, Alexander Vorobyov won rings, Benoit Caranobe won floor, and Igor Cassina won high bar, but all that was so utterly predictable that we'd really much rather hear about the other medalists. You know, the people who came 2nd and 3rd. Or even 4th for that matter.

Our spies tell us He Kexin won bars with a humongous 17.000. She was supposedly better in Milan than she was in Beijing. Does that mean she didn't muscle her kips? Lia Parolari is supposed to have finished second with a 14.700 score (2.300 behind He), Serena Licchetta third with 14.300. Our spy noted that Romania's Dana Druncea, in action for the first time since, oh, quite some time because of injury, looked rather overweight and only scored a 12.650 on bars. Supposedly she did better on beam and floor, although she used watered down routines.

We're glad Lia Parolari won a gold before a home crowd. She's a beautiful gymnast who deserves a few medals every now and then. Watch her very elegant beam set, featuring a pretty Memmel turn (a compulsory element in Italy, it seems), here.

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Lia Parolari (photo: Tom Theobald)

Other news of note would be that Monica Bergamelli has apparently announced that she'll go on competing for another year. Good for her!

Now let's see how long we'll have to wait for those official results...
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14 comments:

  1. AnonymousNovember 24, 2008 at 3:44 AM

    I managed to record those event but without sound and not so good quality from GP Milano, if you are interested

    Sandra Izbasa FX: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdX5xCI06sk
    Dana Druncea FX: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzC3IH84LAw&feature=related
    Dana Druncea UB: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJcGtT9Vj7E

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  2. EmilyNovember 24, 2008 at 6:47 AM

    I really wouldn't say that Druncea looked overweight. She looked the same as usual to me, perhaps a little more hippy but maybe she finally hit puberty.

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  3. The Gym GirlsNovember 24, 2008 at 6:59 AM

    Thanks for those videos, monagym! It's good to finally see some footage of the competition. Now if only the organizers would announce the complete competition results, life would be sweet.

    Emily, having seen monagym's videos, I (Mihaela) would have to agree that Daniela Druncea didn't look particularly overweight. I'm not sure why our spy thought she was. If Druncea is overweight, then the sport is in serious trouble.

    She did look out of shape though. To be honest I don't think I'd have let her compete. She clearly wasn't ready to go out there and hit her routines.

    Hopefully she'll be in good shape next year.

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  4. AnonymousNovember 24, 2008 at 9:18 AM

    Results i know
    Bars:

    1. He Kexin (17.000)
    2. Lia Parolari (14.700)
    3. Serena Licchetta (14.300)
    4. Andrea La Spada (14.100)
    5. Daniela Druncea (12.650)

    Beam:

    1. Lia Parolari (14.850)
    2. Sandra Izbasa (14.650)
    3. Andrea La Spada (14.400)
    4. Daniela Druncea (14.150)
    5. Serena Licchetta (13.750)

    Floor:

    1. Sandra Izbasa (14.850)
    2. Daniela Druncea (14.000)
    3. Serena Licchetta (13.750)
    4. Lia Parolari (13.600)
    5. Andrea La Spada (13.550)

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousNovember 24, 2008 at 1:37 PM

    Hey girls, what about having your blog translated into Italian? I'd do it for free of course :) Contact me for further info
    bluekloe-2104@yahoo.it

    ReplyDelete
  6. The Gym GirlsNovember 24, 2008 at 10:48 PM

    Thanks, sandraizbasa. We appreciate your taking the time to share those scores with us!

    Chiara, are you serious? If yes, wow. That's quite an honor. We'll think about it!

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  7. Giulyx14November 25, 2008 at 7:17 AM

    The Memmel turn is not a compulsory element in Italy XD

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  8. The Gym GirlsNovember 25, 2008 at 10:16 AM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

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  9. The Gym GirlsNovember 25, 2008 at 10:18 AM

    Are you sure of that, Giulyx14? We have our doubts.

    We like Memmel turns though, so it's all good. ;-)

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  10. Giulyx14November 26, 2008 at 7:49 AM

    Yes,i'm sure....Many gymnasts do it because it's a good element but is not a complusory element.
    Francesca Benolli,Federica Macrì,Sara Bradaschia don't do this turn ;)

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  11. The Gym GirlsNovember 27, 2008 at 7:30 AM

    Hee. We were kidding, Giulyx14. The Memmel turn seems to be a popular element among Italian gymnasts, but we know it's not compulsory. ;-)

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  12. Giulyx14November 27, 2008 at 7:39 AM

    Sorry but for me it's not very easy to understand when someone jokes because I already struggling to translate XD

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  13. The Gym GirlsNovember 27, 2008 at 7:48 AM

    It's alright. We understand. It probably wouldn't be easy for us to understand Italian jokes either!

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  14. Giulyx14November 27, 2008 at 11:31 AM

    Right XD

    ReplyDelete

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