Meanwhile, in Non-AYOF News...

--- ProSport reports that Marian Drăgulescu just taught his first class as a coach at Dinamo Bucharest (Aurelia Dobre's old club), where his former teammates Marius Urzică and Dan Potra are coaching as well. According to ProSport, Drăgulescu's goal is to create a gymnast who will be better than himself. Good luck with that, Marian!

--- Adevărul reports that Sandra Izbaşa and Răzvan Şelariu were voted the Romanian Gymnastics Federation's Athletes of the Year 2008. Şelariu was second on floor at the 2008 Europeans; Izbaşa is the Olympic champion on the same event.

--- A few days ago we reported that Diego Hypolito had lost his sponsors. Now Dutch newspapers are reporting that the same fate has befallen Suzanne Harmes, whose sponsorship contract with the Dutch Olympic Committee has not been renewed due to a lack of noteworthy achievements in 2008 (Harmes won the national title and qualified to the Olympics, but achieved little else). This means a substantial loss of income for Harmes, which is all the more worrying because her new training arrangements (she recently switched to a club in the north of the country while continuing to live in the south) call for frequent traveling and overnight stays at hotels, and because she has a child to look after (she is a single mom).


Suzanne Harmes with her son Lugano
(photo: Merlin Daleman/NRC)

--- Finally, just in case you were wondering what Dutch, Belgian, and German gymnastics fans get up to at the end of each season, here's your answer: they attend gymnastics galas. A while ago we posted a video with highlights of a Dutch gala. Now the Flemish Gymnastics Federation has posted a video with highlights of the gala which was held in Ghent in late December. There are some quick (very quick!) glimpses of Sandra Izbaşa, Daria Zgoba, Aagje Vanwalleghem, and Benoit Caranobe, as well as an acrotumbler hitting a triple back, a rather unique pair ribbon routine, and some impressive-looking acrobatic gymnastics and rhythmic gymnastics. We've been told the Ghent gala was better than the Dutch galas, but we don't think the Belgians were treated to the Chinese men's four which performed at the Dutch galas and wowed audiences with their human rope-skipping.

Injury Report

--- According to Globoesporte, Jade Barbosa is currently in America (supposedly in Miami) for a second opinion on the osteonecrosis in her right hand. "The doctor over there is used to treating elite athletes, and he is studying the problem," said Elisete Chagas, Jade's stepmother and agent. "We hope that she won't have to leave the country for treatment, because that would be very costly."

--- Despite our best efforts, we haven't been able to find any information on the injury that kept Yang Yilin from performing at the World Cup Final, beyond Lu Shanzhen's initial statement that it was a "waist injury" (which may also be translated as "lower back injury"). As far as we can tell, there hasn't been any mention of Yang in the Chinese media recently. If anyone has any information on her situation, do share it - we're intrigued by the Chinese media's silence on the subject!


Sang Lan (photo: Sina)

--- Meanwhile, things are looking up for another Chinese gymnast who sustained a much more serious injury, Sang Lan. Sang, a Chinese national vault champion who got paralyzed when a timer vault went horribly awry at the 1998 Goodwill Games, is probably China's most famous disabled person. Sina reports that she was very busy in 2008, traveling around the world as an ambassador for the Olympics and Paralympics. She also carried the Olympic torch the day before the Games began. Sang recently told Chinese reporters that 2008 was a great year for her and that her main hope for 2009 is to be able to learn how to drive a car. "If it's possible, I'd like to try and drive my own car. That would make me so happy." She went on to explain that being able to leave the house on one's own is a great hope for any disabled person, but conceded that it might be difficult to fulfill her wish, as it's hard for disabled people in China to get an adapted car, or a driver's license for that matter. Yet Sang remains optimistic. "Things can only get better, right? I'm sure a day will come [that I can drive a car]." (Check out this link for a recentish New York Times interview with Sang Lan.)

--- Dutch national team members Suzanne Harmes and Sanne Wevers appear to be recovering well from the injuries that prevented them from shining at the World Cup Final. Both gymnasts performed at the Univé Gym Galas held in three Dutch towns just after the World Cup Final. Their heavily watered-down but none too painful-looking routines can be seen in this ten-minute, high-quality video, which takes a long time to load but does give a good impression of the galas. It also shows a rather heavy Chellsie Memmel performing her bar routine, as well as glimpses of several other performers strutting their stuff.


Yvette Moshage (photo: Iris van den Broek/Gymnasticsphotography)

--- Meanwhile, another Dutch gymnast, promising junior Yvette Moshage, seems to be less lucky. Moshage, second to Jordyn Wieber at Top Gym, twisted her knee on her dismount in the beam final of the Belgian competition. According to her website, Moshage has been diagnosed with a completely torn anterior cruciate ligament, a serious injury which will require a long recovery period. Ouch.

--- Finally, according to a print article we sadly can't reproduce here (L'Equipe, December 17), Russian-born French veteran Dimitri Karbanenko (aged 35!) underwent arthroscopy in Cagnes-sur-Mer on December 17. The article says Karbanenko has had problems with his left meniscus ever since the spring of 2006, but never had time to have it looked at. He wanted to shine one last time at the Beijing Olympics, but just missed out on a spot in the high bar final, and didn't make the all-around final either as he was outscored by his teammates Caranobe and Bouhail. He can't see himself performing at another Olympics. He may stick around for a little while longer to perform on a few events, but not for long, he insists: "I've never been able to do things just for the sake of doing them. I need a motivation, but I don't have one anymore. So I think I'll gradually retire."


Dimitri Karbanenko in Beijing, powerful as ever (photo: Reuters)

Dutch Injuries Not Too Bad

Sportweek reports that the elbow injury which forced Sanne Wevers to withdraw from the World Cup beam final isn't too serious. Wevers is supposed to be suffering from a partially torn muscle, and is expected to be out of action for a mere four weeks. She is said to be very relieved at the diagnosis, having feared she might have a completely torn tendon or damaged ligaments.


Sanne Wevers (photo: Pro Shots)

As for Suzanne Harmes, who couldn't finish her floor exercise in Madrid due to an injury sustained during the routine, she reportedly arrived in Madrid with a bruised ankle. She then twisted the same ankle during her floor exercise, and was in too much pain to finish her routine.

Meanwhile, NRC Handelsblad quoted the Dutch men, who were very successful in Madrid, winning a gold, a silver, and a bronze.

Horizontal bar champion Epke Zonderland called his gold medal "a fantastic end to the year 2008." The 22-year-old had been determined to avenge his fall in the Olympic horizontal bar final, which dropped him all the way to seventh place. "I think you could say I did that," Zonderland said with a huge grin on his face. "This was my best high bar routine ever." His 16.125 score was a personal best. Zonderland had never received a 16+ score before.


Horizontal bar winner Epke Zonderland (center) with veterans Phil Rizzo and Hiroyuki Tomita (photo: Volker Minkus/FIG)

For his part, vault medalist Jeffrey Wammes said his silver medal was up there with the bronze he won at the Europeans. "My first vault didn't feel particularly good, but when I saw the video footage afterwards, it didn't look too bad. My second vault was just super."

Yuri van Gelder's bronze medal on rings was his third of that color in a World Cup competition. He earlier collected thirty gold and silver medals. "Well, if you look at it [from a color-collecting perspective], it's kind of nice to have a bronze medal," Van Gelder said. "I'm not too unhappy with it. You can't always be the best."