6th TeamGym Championships in Ostrava / CZE -
November 03 - 04, 2006 - 48 teams will compete

The 6th TeamGym Championship will be held from November 1st to 4th in Ostrava. The 3rd largest town of the Czech Republic (400 000 inhabitants) and is the largest city in North Moravia. 48 teams with a total of 480 gymnasts, representing 48 Clubs, will compete in the categories men’s teams, women’s teams and mixed teams in the Winter Stadium Ostrava - Poruba.

15 mixed teams, 22 women’s teams and 11 men’s teams representing 15 countries (AUT, CZE, DEN, EST, FIN, FRA, GBR, GER, ISL, ITA, NED, NOR, POR, RUS) will compete from November 2nd to 4th. Germany and Denmark are represented with 6 teams each. Two winners, Rodovre (DEN, mixed teams) and Slagelse (DEN, men’s teams) as well as several medal winners of the 5th edition held in Dornbirn (AUT) have confirmed their presence. The way is free for a new winner in the women’s category, as the current champion, Team Asker (NOR) is not entered, as well as the 3rd ranked Gadstrup (DEN).

The competitions are ruled according to the UEG code of points, regulations and directives for the apparatus; the supplier this year is Eurogym Equipment AB.

Competition form

Composition of the teams:
A team (mixed, women’s or men’s) has to be composed of 6-12 gymnasts representing the same club. A mixed group must be composed of 50% women and 50% men. The gymnasts must be 16 years or older. A country can enter no more than 2 teams per category.

Competition programme
The following three disciplines are mandatory: floor, tumbling and mini-tramp. Only gymnasts having participated in the floor programme can compete in tumbling and mini-tramp. The 8 best groups of the qualifications participate in the finals. The final score per team is the sum of all three routines. In case of a tie, the rules of Art. 13 of the regulations will be applied. The team with the best total per category is declared winner. The winners receive a cup, a gold medal and a diploma. The team having won the cup three times in a row can keep it. The teams ranked 2nd and 3rd receive a silver, respectively a bronze medal and a diploma.

The organisation of the TeamGym Championship was entrusted to the Czech Gymnastics Federation, which can count on the support of the local organizing committee and the municipal organization SAREZA.

The delegations can visit Ostrava, where Ivan Lendl, the famous tennis player was born; Emil Zatopec, the legendary athlete, was born in a village not far away. Ostrava, the largest city of North Moravia, lies in the east, close to the Polish border and the river Oder. The competition venue is the winter stadium Paruba.

Final mixed teams

Rodovre og Omengs GK, title holder, was not beaten by a better team, even though they finish, a little bit disappointed, on the third rank. AGF Arhus and GK Motus-Salto finished with the same total of 24.750 points !

The team of Arhus sings the national anthemn / Photos D. Duchoud UEG

The rules in case of a tie were applied, after three evaluation criteria's, by giving the final victory to the team of Arhus, brilliant on floor. The three teams had nine different scores, but with the same total. This never happened before. The British from Basingstoke had to wait until the last routine before knowing if they could go home, yes or no, with the bronze medal. The Russians from the university club RGUFK also hoped to step on the podium, but after several missed landings on the mini-tramp, which happed to other teams too, they had to be satisfied with the fifth rank. The performances in this category were very close and only 2.250 points separate the best three from the last ranked. The difference between the highest and the lowest score is only two points.

Final women’s teams

The victory of the club Stockholm Top Gymnastics was never threatened. The gracious gymnasts with their winning smile dominated the three disciplines. For the second rank, the fight between GERPLA (ISL) and the Danish club Slafelse was quite close.

Third in 2002, second in 2004, the Swedish gymnasts can, this year, go home with a gold medal. Knowing that 14’000 gymnasts practice TeamGym in Sweden, it is evident that this discipline is very popular there.
Several finalists, among them the winners of 2004 (Team Asker from Norway) were not present, except the British club from Portsmouth. Tampereen (FIN) started the competition quite well, but lost all chances after the routine on the mini-tramp. Last ranked two years ago, the Finnish gymnasts could have hoped for a better ranking than the 4th place. All in all, the performances of the 7 finalists were homogenous and of a better level than those of the mixed teams.

Final Men’s Teams

With regard to the title in the men’s category, there were only two questions after the qualifications – who will win the title? The title holder HSG Slagelse or the challenger P+D Silkeborg? Was there still a chance for GF Kämpinge (SWE)?

The winner team: Silkeborg Photos D. Duchoud/UEG

Slagelse really wanted to win the title for the 3rd consecutive time. But after the qualifications, they were only on the third place. Thanks to the new rules, they got a wild card granted to the second team of a country ranked within the best three. During the qualifications, Silkeborg was very strong and got more than 9.00 points in the three disciplines. During the final competitions, the Danish gymnasts were excellent too, but the scores were not as high. Kämpinge, not as good on floor as the day before, was still very precise on the mini-tramp and in tumbling. Slagelse gave all they could in all three disciplines. But in spite of higher scores the day before, they were 0,10 point behind their rivals.

The Scandinavians are still the best

There were three titles at stake – two went to Denmark and one to Sweden. The Danish gymnasts can also take a silver and two bronze medals home, the Swedish gymnasts a silver and a bronze medal and Iceland a silver medal. This is the medal table for a great competition, very dynamic with great physical performances. The 6th TeamGym 2006 has known a great success and the Czech organisers in Ostrava deserved indeed the ovations from the gymnasts.

Organizers, Czech Federation and technical committee UEG are satisfied / Photos: D.Duchoud

Some 30 judges have evaluated 207 exercises; those on trampoline and tumbling included three routines per team. The finals were perfectly orchestrated by the TeamGym Technical Committee chaired by the Stefan Bengtsson (SWE) and did not exceed 60 minutes for each of the three categories, a fact which enchanted the national Czech TV which broadcasted these competitions live. A Czech company, Eurogym (www.eurogym.cz) made the apparatus - specific for this competition - available, which was held in a multi-sport hall. Some 3500 spectators, not counting the schools present the first day, assisted at the qualifications and finals. A great moment, among so many others, when the gymnasts of the three teams on the podium of the mixed category (two Danish and one Swedish team) sang all together the Danish national anthem.
This championship was the last event on the UEG competition calendar 2006.

Gym and tradition
The hosts of the Czech Gymnastics Federation and the local organising committee were very hospitable and warm. As an example the surprise evening organised for the officials, the partners and the heads of delegation in a old coal mine (the deepest one in Europe with more than 600 m), which is now a museum open to the public. For this occasion, an old tradition of the miners was used. A ceremony for the young miners (the foxes) which had left school and had to pass this ritual before being accepted in the team. Georges Guelzec, vice-president, Stefan Bengtsson and Keith Hughes of the TC TeamGym UEG participated with pleasure in this ceremony.