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Artistic Gymnastics World Championships
From 13 to 18 October 2009 the World Gymnastic Championships were held in London for the first time. Some of our PE staff took our gymnastics team to watch the final competition day.
After a long 5 hour journey to get to London we finally arrived. We were all buzzing with excitement because we were going to see the World Gymnastics Finals competition!
The first discipline we saw was the Men’s Vault. We saw very talented gymnasts flip, dive and somersault over a 1.35 metre box. The gymnasts are allowed a run of 25 metres before vaulting and are only allowed one vault each.
The second discipline we saw was the Women’s beam. This apparatus is a 10 cm wide beam that is 125 cm off the ground and is 500cm long. The gymnasts have to do a routine that has to include acrobatic elements, jumps turns and steps; the gymnasts also have to demonstrate elegance, flexibility, rhythm, tempo, balance, confidence and self control.
The third discipline we saw was the men’s parallel bars. The gymnasts on this apparatus have to be extremely strong; they have to demonstrate swinging, their strength and hold balances. The parallel bars are 1.75 metres high.
The highlight of the competition was the Women’s floor routine because Britain’s own Beth Tweddle was competing. She was up on the floor first and there was a massive cheer as she saluted, to say she was ready. After Beth’s magnificent performance, another gymnast stepped up to do her routine and unfortunately injured herself.
After tensely watching all 7 other competitors the scores came in. Suddenly, there was a massive cheer as it was announced that Beth Tweddle had won!!!
By Ruby Hamilton 10L