Gymnastics World Cup
“Totally bitter”: gymnasts disappointed after Olympic exit
Germany’s national coach Gerben Wiersma (r) speaks to the gymnasts. photo
© Tom Weller/German Gymnastics Association/dpa
There is dejection in the German gymnastics camp. The women’s team narrowly missed the Olympics. A former world champion still has a starting place in Paris.
“Brutal”, “bitter”, “shock”: the unexpected and wafer-thin The Olympic exit for the women’s team left a deep disappointment in the German gymnastics camp. The team, which was hit by injuries, missed the tiny 0.169 points at the World Championships in Antwerp for their longed-for ticket to the Olympic Games in Paris next year.
“We are all very disappointed. We came here to be at least one place better than we ended up being. That’s totally bitter,” said Thomas Gutekunst, sports director of the German Gymnastics Federation (DTB), with a feeling of sadness.
He called the mini-gap to the lucky South Koreans “brutal.” Due to 13th place in the qualification, the DTB only had one quota place for Paris.
Schäfer-Betz secures starting place
Only Pauline Schäfer-Betz would have had reason to be happy. As the best German all-rounder in Antwerp, the woman from Chemnitz secured a personal starting place in Paris. She also reached the World Cup finals in the all-around and on the balance beam. But the 26-year-old, like Sarah Voss (Cologne), who also qualified for the all-around final, as well as Meolie Jauch (Stuttgart), Karina Schönmaier and Lea Marie Quaas (both Chemnitz), suffered from the unfortunate Olympic exit and had to sort herself out.
“I have to organize my thoughts first, organize my emotions, because it’s really been a roller coaster ride of emotions,” said the 2017 balance beam world champion. When the final result of 157.128 points appeared on the scoreboard, it was “such a little moment of shock, because you didn’t know which emotion was appropriate or how you should feel.”
On the one hand, you are happy that you did a “great beam exercise” and that you are in the all-around final, said Schäfer-Betz. “On the other hand, it was clear that it might not be enough to qualify for the Olympics. It was a laughing matter and a crying eye,” she admitted.
“Proud of the girls”
National coach Gerben Wiersma seemed empty and dejected as he reviewed the competition in the catacombs of the Sportpaleis. “Two tenths, two tenths – that’s crazy. We had setbacks. That was the maximum we could show,” said the Dutchman contritely, but at the same time praised his team: “I’m really proud of the girls. We didn’t have any big ones Mistakes. We fought for every tenth. The competition was great, but two tenths – man, that’s nothing.”
Previously, the injured former European champions Elisabeth Seitz (Stuttgart) and Emma Malewski (Chemnitz) had crossed their fingers for their colleagues in the stands and cheered them on. “It was extremely close. The girls did very well, but unfortunately it wasn’t enough,” said the disappointed German record champion Seitz and added: “First the injury, then this shock.”
The 29-year-old tore her right Achilles tendon at the beginning of September, and Malewski tore the syndesmotic ligament in his right foot shortly before leaving for the World Cup. Both sat side by side in harmony in the Sportpaleis; next year they will be opponents in the fight for the only available Olympic starting place. “I will now have to fight for the unnamed spot. At the moment it’s a very bitter pill that I still have to digest,” said Seitz.