2012 European Championships WAG - what you need to know

Twitter the Europeans : #Brussels2012

I am on my way to Brussels and will be providing a daily diary of all the excitement from the point of view of a well seasoned gymnastics traveller who loves the Russians.  These Championships are one of the most keenly anticipated of any I have attended in the past 25 years.  In the coming days we should expect to discover :

• Who of the latest crop of juniors are likely to be fighting for spots on the senior teams in coming years?
• How are the Russian team's preparations going for the Olympics?
• Which of Russia's first time seniors will be in the fight for places on the team for London?
• Can the Romanians pull off a surprise and win lots and lots of gold?

The Russians have brought a very young team to Brussels; of the five gymnasts nominated three are first time seniors.   Some bright person noted that this is in fact the 2010 European Junior Championships team, with Aliya Mustafina in the place of Violetta Malikova. I cannot remember a time when Russia has risked so much on unproven talent, so we are in for a few interesting days one way or another.

If the rumours prove true - that Komova is performing bars and beam only; that Mustafina is not competing beam - this could be more of a test for the young up and coming team members than a predictor of the team's performance in London.  I personally expect to see Anastasia Grishina compete all four for the team, thus providing competition for Romania's Larissa Iordache in the unofficial all around, matching like for like as these two first year seniors emerge.  Almost more intriguing will be the performance of Anastasia Sidorova and Maria Paseka.  How these young girls perform under the spotlight, and the psychological resilience they show under pressure, will be all important in determining who goes forward to the final fight for places on the Olympic team.

One certainty is that Alexander Alexandrov has significantly improved the transition rate from junior to senior in the Russian Federation, promising good things for the future.    Another is that we will not know how this team will perform until the day of the competition. The final, bigger, certainty is that this competition will decide nothing final.   The Europeans are the Europeans.  The Olympics are the Olympics.  Win or lose, the Russians are only just beginning their Olympic journey. 

Once, the pre-Olympic Europeans were considered a predictor of Olympic success; remember Gutsu in 1992, Podkopayeva in 1996.  These days, however, the balance of power has shifted, and predictions involve a more complex balancing act as we try to compare results here and on other continents. 

Albert at the All Around must have a computer for a brain, and is developing all sorts of calculations to help us make our minds up as to who is likely to have the final word in Brussels.  He has begun with an analysis of the worst, best, and average possible outcomes for each of the teams, concluding that Russia could end up with gold, silver, or completely out of the medals in the event of a worst case scenario.  I have no choice but to agree.  It's as uncertain as ever how Russia will perform here.  Frankly, Romania look the most likely team to do well here, given the relative youth of the Russian team and the nature of their gymnastics which demands that they take every move to the max.

Let's remind ourselves of a few of the basic bits of information :

Competition schedule 

Wednesday 9 May 2012: Qualifications juniors

1.00 pm - 3.30 pm: subdivision 1 (SLO, DEN, BUL, SVK, CRO, GRE, SRB, GEO, TUR, ISL, LTU, UKR, GBR, ROU, SWE)
4.00 pm - 6.00 pm: subdivision 2 (BEL, HUN, RUS, NOR, IRL, GER, FRA, ESP)
6.10 pm - 8.30 pm: subdivision 3 (NED, SUI, ITA, FIN, CZE, BLR, AUT, LAT)
Medal ceremony
 
Thursday 10 May 2012: Qualifications seniors
10.00 am - 12.00 pm: subdivision 1 (ITA, DEN, ROU, AUT, RUS, POL, CRO)
12.10 pm - 2.10 pm: subdivision 2 (BEL, POR, TUR, GBR, SUI, ISL, FRA, SLO)
3.15 pm - 5.15 pm: subdivision 3 (LTU, SVK, UKR, BLR, ESP, NOR, HUN, CZE, ISR)
5.25 pm - 7.25 pm: subdivision 4 (LAT, BUL, NED, IRL, GRE, SWE, LUX, MDA, FIN, GER)

Friday 11 May 2012
7.00 pm - 9.15 pm: all-around final juniors

Saturday 12 May 2012
3.00 pm - 5.15 pm: team final seniors
 
Sunday 13 May 2012
9.30 am - 12.30 pm: apparatus finals juniors
2.00 pm- 5.00 pm: apparatus finals seniors

Russian team members and link to full nominative listings :

Juniors  

Evgeniya Shelgunova 
Maria Kharenkova 
Yulia Tipaeva 
Ekaterina Baturina 
Viktoria Kuzmina  

Seniors

Aliya Mustafina 
Viktoria Komova 
Anastasia Grishina 
Maria Paseka
Anastasia Sidorova

Working order


Russian juniors will begin on bars; Russian seniors on beam in qualifications.


Find here the UEG's European Gymnastics Championships page, and here a link to the European Championships own page.


Television coverage

The BBC is covering the team and senior event finals live on red button, which is also available online in the UK:

Saturday 12th May 14.00 - 16.30 Team finals
Sunday 13th May 12.45 - 16.30 Event finals (12.45-16.00 on Freeview)

There will also be highlights on BBC1 on :

Saturday 19th May, 14.30 - 16.30

With thanks to various posters at the All Around Forum, there will also be online coverage for viewers in the following territories :

Russian Federation on Sportbox:

Team finals :  http://news.sportbox.ru/Vidy_sporta/gimnastika/spbvideo_NI307609_CHempionat-Evropi-ZHenschini-Final


Event finals : http://news.sportbox.ru/Vidy_sporta/gimnastika/spbvideo_NI307609_CHempionat-Evropi-ZHenschini-Final


In Romania, coverage on TVR2 http://www.1tv4u.com/web/RO/RO-TV/TVR2.htm

Here's a link to the schedules for Flemish TV : http://www.sporza.be/cm/sporza/tv_ra...ogrammagids_TV

Good luck to all the gymnasts - enjoy Brussels!