33rd Memorial Joaquim Blume

This year saw the 33rd edition of the Gymnastics competition Memorial Joaquim Blume and for the fourth time in a row, it took place in Vilanova. Not since the Olympic Games of Barcelona in 1992 have so many international top-level gymnast come to Catalonia and the explanation is twofold; firstly, this edition forms part of the World Cup of Gymnastics, which means that by participating here the gymnasts improve their overall ranking, and secondly, all of them are eager to compete as a part of their preparation for the Olympic Games in Beijing.


Since this year was the third time I went I start to feel like a veteran and think that the organizers managed to run the competion in an efficient and audience friendly way. It is obvious that there were less spectators than earlier years, but that is not so surprising if you bear in mind that there was not any competition for junior gymnasts in the morning this time.

So, those of us who were there had come to see the stars and we were not disappointed. Since last year there are no overall champions of this competition but one for each event. Unfortunately, I missed Saturday’s competition in floor exercise, pommel horse and still rings for men and uneven bars and vault for women, but here are the scores of todays’ winners.

Male gold medal winners:
Vault: Isaac Botella, Spain – 15,913 points
Parallel bars: Zhe Feng – P.R. China – 16,100 points
High bar: Weiyan Guo, P.R. China – 15,800 points

Female gold medal winners:
Balance beam: Shanshan Li, P.R. China – 15,900 points
Floor: Shanshan Li, P.R. China – 14,275 points

Judging from here, gymnastics will be one of the parade sports for the hosts of the Olympics this year. But Isaac Botella’s result in vault certainly looks promising.

Up-Date: Here you can find the results of Saturday's competition. I assume that the full Sunday results will be added within shortly.
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Els dies 5-8 de juny s’ha celebrat la competició gimnàstica memorial Joaquin Blume, per la quarta vegada per aquí a Vilanova i la Geltrú. Enguany, en primer lloc forma part de la Copa del Mon, que significa que els gimnastes acumulen punts per la seva participació i en segon funciona com una preparació per als Jocs Olímpics de Pequín. Per tant, escriu en Alfredo Hueto, el Director del Memorial Blume, el que hem vist ara és el esdeveniment gimnàstic més important que es va organitzar a Catalunya, amb l'excepció dels Jocs Olímpics de Barcelona en 1992.


Llàstima que no han vingut més espectadors de la ciutat, però la veritat és que això no m’ha sorprengut. Jo mateix – una persona que s’interessa a aquest esport – vaig assebentar-me de la competició pels cartells que van penjar la última setmana, quan la meva dona ja havia fixat el meu programa per al dissabte. Ara bé, avui he pogut veure tot i m’ha agradat molt. I que en Isaac Botella d’Alacant va aconseguir un or en salt em sembla fantàstic.