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MEMMEL WINS ALL AROUND WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS TITLE BY ONE THOUSANDTH OF A POINT!
NASTIA ACHIEVES DREAM RESULTS IN USA 1-2!
A wonderful Championships culminated in a terrific battle for the World Title as the top 24 gymnasts from qualifiers prepared for the biggest competition of their lives in Melbourne today, with an opportunity to create history as an All Around World Champion! Sadly the competition might have been undermined by the absence of several major gymnastics powerhouse nations from the All Around Final with only one qualifier from Romania, only Yelena Zamoldchikova representing Russia, and no-one from the Ukariane! Both Chinese qualifiers were also forced to withdraw from the AA Final due to injuries, and with the decisions by Catalina Ponor, Daiane dos Santos, and the Chinese stars Cheng Fei and Fan Ye not to compete in the All Around, I feared that this may affect the quality of the World Final. But how wrong I was after witnessing a sensational debut on the World stage from Nastia Liukin who only turned 16 last month, and our own Beth Tweddle who achieved the best ever result in an Artistic World Championships from a British gymnast!
The draw meant that the top 6 gymnasts from Qualifiers would compete together, and how proud we were to see Beth included in that elite group after finishing 4th in Qualifiers. As the gymnasts stepped out into a packed arena, the crowd were already chanting “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie - Oi, Oi, Oi” for their own 17 year old All Around Champion, Monette Russo, who had qualified in 3rd place, and the electric atmosphere brought back fantastic memories from Atlanta.
In the first rotation, the Olympic Champion on Bars Emilie Le Pennec opened on her favourite apparatus to hit a terrific routine for a 9.512 on her favourite apparatus, with the 2000 Olympic Champion on Floor and Vault Elena Zamalodchikova in 2nd place, with the 2003 World Champion and 2004 World Cup winner on A-Bars Chellsie Memmel who were both competing on Vault in 3rd. Zamo and Chellsie opened with Yurchenko Double Twists with a Start Value of 9.8 with Zamo scoring 9.350 and Chellsie 9.325. Next came Daniele Hypolito (BRA) with a very high Beam score of 9.225, followed by three more gymnasts from the Vault group -Monette Russo (AUS) 5th, Beth Tweddle (GBR) 6th, Nastia Liukin (USA) 7th who produced a relatively low score of 9.137 and Suzanne Harmes (NED), who started on A. Bars, 8th.
In Rotation 2, when the elite group performed on A. Bars, Memmel took the lead from Liukin with an 18.862, and our own Beth Tweddle who produced a superb routine including four release and catches including 2 releases from bars in row, the only female gymnast in the World to include this skill. Beth scored a terrific 9.512 echoing her bronze medal performance in Anaheim, as close rival Nastia Liukin produced a superb 9.587 and the highest score on this piece demonstrating wonderful technique and lines. The Australians were on their feet ready to raise the roof as audience darling Monette Russo moved into fourth place and Le Pennec dro | 
