Grandly named, the first ever European Team Championships were actually little more than a "European Masters Revisited" - only with less glamour. Had the 1997 and 1999 editions, held in Paris, France, and Patras, Greece, offered large arenas, podiums and last, but certainly not least prize money, the 2001 edition had to do without any of this. The absence of prize money was particular unpopular with the participating delegations in the "Sachsenarena" in Riesa, a small town about 30 kms from Dresden in the former GDR.

Like the two previous editions, teams consisted of two female artistic gymnasts, two male artistic gymnasts and two rhythmic gymnasts. Though delegations had to enter two gymnasts per discipline, some teams, like Poland, Hungary and Finland, chose to actually compete only one gymnast. (Poland's Joanna Skibko trained with everybody else but sat out the competition while the second WAG representative from Hungary and Finland never even made the trip).

On Saturday, the twelve teams went head to head in six duels, with the six winners and two strongest losers advancing to the next round. The quarter finals on Sunday saw only one routine per discipline and the immediate elimination of the loser which finally brought some much needed excitement to the competition. The four strongest teams then advanced to the semi-finals, the respective losers of the semi-final matches would then go head to head for the bronze medal while the two winners battled it out for the title of first ever European Team Champion. To add to the excitement, the competition featured a joker: each team had to name one routine per discipline that would serve as a joker, the score of the joker routine was doubled.

Coming just a month before the RG European Championships in Geneva, Switzerland, the event saw most of Europe's top rhythmic gymnasts show their new routines to the judges. The new Code of Points is criticised by many as suiting only the very top girls in the sport and thus limiting the chances of the weaker nations. Rhythmic gymnasts may now wear skirts and use vocal music (without lyrics), changes which did not go down well with everybody, some claiming the additions did little to boost the reputation of a sport, already tainted by judging scandals and wild rumours of Mafia connections. Nonetheless, Russian superstar Alina Kabayeva was hugely popular with the Riesa crowd, her Russian folk clubs routine earned maybe the loudest cheers of the weekend. Missing were Yulia Raskina of Belarus (still rehabbing an injured knee) and Germany's stalwart Edita Schaufler and Lena Asmus, both recovering from injuries.

With the World Championships in Ghent still five months away, most of the artistic gymnasts still seemed to be building their routines to match the new requirements. Highlights were few and falls abundant in the competition. There was, however, some impressive work on display from Russia's Yevgeni Podgorni, Ukraine's Alexander Beresh and the Spanish women. There were no ten start values in the women's competition but quite a few from the men, mainly on pommel horse (Tayac, Kryukov, Busnari).

On Sunday, Italy met Great Britain in the first quarter final match. Due to a strong showing on rings by Matteo Morandi and a good clubs routine from Laura Zachilli, they advanced to the semi-finals. Alyona Kvasha tumbled up a storm on floor (double Arabian, double front, 2 1/2 twist, double pike), helping Ukraine to pull ahead of Belarus by 0.4 in the second quarter final of the day. Spain continued their winning ways, Poland could not keep up. Leszik Blanik threw the only 10 tariff vault of the competition (Tsukahara double pike) but had to take extra steps on landing. In the last quarter finals, Yevgeni Podgorni casually lead the Russian team with a superb floor routine that opened with a full-twisting double layout and included a sky high double Arabian as a side pass.

Italy predictably lost to Russia in the first semi-final and team tactics seemed to be saving the stronger routines for the match against Spain. Adriana Crisci, the team's joker had a disastrous beam routine in what may have been her last competition. In addition, Matteo Morandi sat down on his double front on floor. The Spanish team, which had looked incredibly strong throughout the competition, came to grief in their match against Ukraine with Victor Cano falling twice during his pommel horse routine and Sara Moro coming off beam on a rulfova.

Fighting for the bronze medal, Cano suffered another nightmare, missing his Kovacs twice on high bar. To make things worse, his routine was the joker. Sara Moro then breezed through her new floor routine, scoring a 9.362 (9.9 SV) to keep Spain in the running. The Italians had problems of their own with Alberto Busnari flipping of pommel horse without a dismount, luckily, the judges let him repeat the dismount. Then, Monica Bergamelli failed to catch her Tkachev. After a strong round from the Spanish team, with a super clubs routine from Almudena Cid Tostado and a nailed Yurchenko 1 1/2 from Laura Martinez, it was clear that Spain had taken the bronze.

In the final of finals, the Russians were surely the clear favourites, and things didn't start well for the Ukrainians when Anna Bessonova dropped a club and Alexander Svetlichni had a huge break in his pommel horse routine. Olga Roschupkina stayed on bars for a 8.925. Russia's Irina Chaschina spiced things with a very dynamic hoop routine and was backed up with strong routines from Yevgeni Podgorni and Lyudmila Yezhova. The Ukrainians were going well in the second round with a good showing on high bar from Alexander Beresh, but then Olga Roschupkina fell on beam mount. Her 8.137 hurt the team badly since it was the joker, and Russia's last three routines were little more than a victory lap. When Yelena Zamolodchikova finished her floor routine - debuting a new double layout mount- no scoreboard was necessary to tell who had won.

Ötzi