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 Sabina Cojocar dressed up as herself and
topped the AA standings on day one with her highest score
coming on beam (two ffs to full-twisting back tuck; triple
twist dismount; 10 SV). On floor, she tumbled a full-in,
triple twist, 2 1/2 twist to punch front and a double pike
(all of them low) to Spanish music. "I am happy with
how I did today, but the judges were very strict on vault,"
she said afterwards. Having qualified first on vault and
beam, second on bars and fourth on floor, Cojocar might
have expected more for the finals. She sat down her double
twisting Yurchenko and come off beam on the full-twisting
back tuck and an aerial.
 13-year-old Italian Giorgia Bennecchi
placed second to Cojocar and also took the gold on vault
for a double twisting Yurchenko and a piked Lucconi. Coached
by Mauro Ricco, Benecchi only started gymnastics five years
ago and aspires to become a vet Dutch junior Berber van
den Berg continued her steady climb up the ranks with a
third place in qualifications and went on to become the
most successful gymnast in finals, taking one gold (bars)
and two silvers (vault, beam). While some felt van den Berg
should also have been among the medal winners on floor,
the Heerenveen native herself was pleased with what she
got. "I didn't even expect to make four finals and
I didn't think I was going to win any medals! I made a mistake
on bars in the qualifying round, and I didn't want to repeat
that!". Van den Berg, who turned 15 on Halloween, is
coached by Gerben Wiersma and Rietje Bijlholt, mentors to
2001 World championships competitor Rikst Valentijn.
 Finishing outside the medals was Yevgenia
Kuznetsova (BUL), who was reunited with her former coach
Alexander Kiriyashov, on site to coach Russians Yekaterina
Shuster and Gulnara Ziganshina. "I had athroscopic
surgery on my knee earlier this year," Kuznetsova told
Gymworld while massaging her knee, "but it is still
really, really sore and it hampers my training and competition."
With only a 9,20 SV on floor, Kuznetsova dropped out of
the medals, but claimed the beam title with a routine that
included a front aerial-ff-layout and an original mount
of straddle handstand to full pirouette in handstand. None
of the Russians got close to the medals with the younger
Ziganshina finishing in sixth place after a complete melt
down on floor. Having visibly grown since the Junior European
Championships - where she took a gold with her team - Ziganshina
produced the highest score of the meet with her 9,50 on
bars. "Some things went well, others didn't,"
she mused with a smirk, "but I'm not too depressed.
That's the way it is".
 Austrian Carina Hasenoehrl moved to Deva
to train in 2000 and it seems to be paying off - 12th place
in the AA and fifth on floor. Ironically, the tiny Hasenoehrl
was hardly ever seen in the company of her team mates but
spent most of the time with Cojocar. Canada had entered
five gymnasts, but Jholeen Ponce had to pull out after injuring
her knee in training. Coached by Dave
Brubacker, 15-year-old Melanie
Rocca came out on top of the Canadians with a 15th place
in qualifications after four strong and clean routines.
Just behind her was Jennifer
Simbhudas, who had falls on bars (double front dismount),
beam and floor. Neither Chinese did four events, with Liu
Juan showing traditional Chinese great lines and form
on bars, coupled with inconsistency. In training and competition
she failed to complete one single set without a fall. Julija
Kamnar was the highest placed Slovenian in 14th, ironically
wearing a Ukrainian leotard. Veteran Vesna
Stavrev competed vault only and put in a credible performance
in finals - much to her surprise and her coach's joy. Due
to an injury to her hand, Maja
Hribar was able to compete beam and floor only, both
watered down.
nora
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