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Great Britain recorded a historic victory against a strong Chinese Team which included former World Champion Fan Ye in Liverpool this afternoon to win the Norman Wilkinson Trophy by just 0.075 of a point! The GB Team led by 4 time British Champion and World Ranked No.1 Beth Tweddle performed brilliantly to seize 4 out of the top 6 places!
Beth was competing only 20 days after her disappointment in the European Championships where she was widely tipped to win medals, particularly on A Bars, but fell and and was taken to hospital in a neck brace but fortunately only suffered a concussion. The noise was deafening as she came out with to lead the GB Team in front of a packed audience in her home town of City of Liverpool with the new generation of British Senior’s:- Team mates Melanie Roberts ( City of Liverpool ), Imogen Cairns ( The Academy), Rhian Pugh ( Bristol Hawks), Samantha Bailey ( unattached), Rosalie Hutton ( Pipers Vale) and reserve Helen Galashan ( City of Liverpool) were superb against the Chinese Team of Fan Ye, Li Ya, Xiao Sha, Yang Yahon, Guo Li and Lin Xia who are also building towards the next Olympics in Beijing 2008. Experience and a mixture of youth provided a fascinating competition and a nail biting finish for both gymnasts and the audience!
China began on vault, their weakest piece, where Yang Yahong scored 9.15 with her Tsukahara double twist, the only Chinese gymnast to score 9 or above. Great Britain started superbly on A Bars where World bronze medallist Beth Tweddle scored 9.625, European Junior Champion Rhian Pugh scored 9.450, and Imogen Cairns 9.10 to lead by 37.10 to 35.475.
In the second rotation the Chinese came back strongly on A Bars with Olympic finalist Li Ya scoring 9.625, Fan Ye 9.425, and Guo Li 4th in the Chinese National Championships with a 9.300, and GB had a few wobbles on beam the highlight being Imogen Cairns scoring 8.85 from a 9.8 start value. China had taken the lead by 72.8 to GB’s 71.75.
The crowd were on the edge of their seats as China moved to their speciality on Beam where ex World Champion Fan Ye hit a 9.3 and little “ Miss Smile” Li Ya performed brilliantly to score 9.4 from a 10 SV with beautiful lines and technique. GB moved to Floor where the audience roared on their favourites and Beth hit a terrific routine to score 9.65. Mel and Sam both had start values of 9.7 with Imogen scoring 9.025. GB scored a fantastic 36.775 to China’s 34.65 and the gap between the teams had narrowed to just 0.175.
As both teams moved towards the final piece, the atmosphere was electric, China on Floor and GB on Vault! Would those fabulous floor routines be enough to land the title or could GB do it with their higher difficulty on vault?
The Chinese performed beautifully with exquisite dance and tumbling routines but two landings outside the floor area cost them dearly with 0.1 deductions, as GB stuck their landings and vaulted superbly with Imogen again achieving our individual highest score with 9.35 closely followed by Beth on 9.325.
As the judges added the scores, the crowd held their breath and then came the announcement, GB had done it by only 0.075! GB on 145.525 and China 145.450, it could not have been closer. The crowd nearly lifted the roof as GB had just beaten one of the best gymnastics’ countries in the World! Well done girls, Beth 1st, Imogen 3rd, Sam 4th and Mel 5th - What a great performance! Now onto tomorrow’s individual apparatus finals, will GB bring home more Gold medals? Find out now! CLICK HERE FOR APPARATUS FINALS
CONTENT CHANGED - KEN SUMMERFIELD, GYMNASTICS ONLINE - 22ND MARCH, 2008
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