Conny Schütz was perhaps the most unknown and untested gymnast of the German team - but easily its most cheerful member. And that team was perhaps one of the biggest surprises of the competition. 15th in Tianjin, where they had been mildly confident they would place at least 12th, the German women came to Ghent with very little expectations. Their only goal was to place higher than two years ago. Given the fact that China and Italy did not send full teams and the good performances by Birgit Schweigert, Lisa Brüggemann and Daria Bijak earlier in the year, this goal might have been a bit humble.

With the team's undisputed leaders Schweigert and Brüggemann being backed up by reactivated veteran Gabi Weller as well as Berlin stars Katja Abel and Gritt Hofmann, Conny Schütz could go about her business without too much pressure. Competing on bars and floor in prelims and on bars only in team finals, all of Schütz's scores counted towards Germany's team total.

Cheerful and chatty the always perky Schütz comes as a breath of fresh air in a sport often hammered by the media for producing unhappy acrobats who sacrifice their childhood for a career that lasts for only a few years. "I have no plans for retirement", Schütz grins, "gymnastics is fun for me even when it's tough." And there have been tough times for the Leipzig native. Last year she injured her foot when she was competing in France in a FRA vs CAN-GBR-GER meet and had to have surgery. She was back training in the gym the day after her cast came off. This year she had elbow problems but didn't let them get the better of her.

Coached by Walter Bernasch at the TuG Leipzig club, Conny credits new head coach Petra Theiss and the team training camps with a change of attitude in the German team: "Definitely, us all training together before meets helped our spirit a lot. We hardly knew each other before." Schütz, who turned 17 on August 22 and has a younger sister, Laura, who is also in gymnastics, lights up any arena with her smile. She had a lot to smile about in Ghent - and it may be even more in the future.

Fritzi