The last teams were still at the top of the hall. Things were about to begin as the last gymnasts began their exercises to qualify for the Olympic Games in Paris in 2024. Only twelve teams are there, the other nations – apart from their individual experts – are out.
That was the situation shortly after eight o’clock in the evening on Monday when coach Gerben Wiersma’s German team spoke to the media in the mixed zone in the basement of the Sportpaleis in the gray harbor district of Antwerp. The general realization was: We were good, we can still do it. And Wiersma was initially “proud of the girls. They didn’t fall down, despite the pressure.”
However, the coach and the athletes – they all had this oppressive disappointment in their voices that said a miracle would have to happen. And in fact, it didn’t happen, the competition didn’t expose itself. In the end, the German team was only a “crazy two tenths of a point” away from qualifying for the Olympics, as Wiersma said. However, there was still some good news: Pauline Schäfer-Betz managed a very difficult and precisely executed balance beam exercise, with which she comfortably reached the final. The woman from Chemnitz also secured a place in the Olympic all-around competition.
The disappointed rest of the team had presented a decent competition without any notable flaws. “The girls were under a lot of pressure, but didn’t make a single big mistake,” said Wiersma. The fact that they still didn’t perform well enough was due to the difficulties. The level, apart from the experienced gymnasts Sarah Voss and Pauline Schäfer-Betz, was too easy, and that led to the bad luck of the last few weeks.
For the young gymnasts, only Los Angeles will be an opportunity for the Olympics again
First, Elisabeth Seitz, still the most versatile German gymnast, especially on the uneven bars, was seriously injured a few weeks before the World Championships; Seitz suffered a torn Achilles tendon. The long-time team leader could not be replaced. Just like Emma Malewski, the 19-year-old was injured while dismounting from the uneven bars: the doctors diagnosed a syndesmosis tear on the day she left for the World Cup training camp.
Another challenge may now arise for coach Wiersma. He has to use his qualities as a motivator until the next World Cup and the other highlights. The female DTB young talent, Meolie Jauch from Stuttgart, Karina Schönmaier and Lea Marie Quaas (both Chemnitz) will not experience the Olympic Games in Los Angeles until 2028 at the earliest.