 By Martina and Bernard. The 2003 Dtb Cup. Contact Martina for any comment. Day 3: Finals part 2. For some reason this time getting up was easier for me. We again had a nice breakfast and then went to the hall with the shuttle bus at 9:45 am. This day we were supposed to be able to go into the training hall, but when we tried to get in we experienced problems. Organising was bad in this matter. We had to get someone from the DTB, and after several discussions they let us in through the youth club, which was OK for us in the end. We soon returned to the arena though, because the gymnasts were actually warming up and training there. There I was able to take lots of photos again, and we also met my friend Bianka. Later during the competitions we went to the training hall several times and watched everything a bit and took some photos.  Well, when the competition started this day we spotted Yarodska in the audience in street wear and with open hair. She wasn't competing this day but taped several routines on video. We asked her to take photos, and she was really nice and agreed! Also the Australian girls were sitting in the audience, and I used the chance to take a photo with them as well and get another autograph for a friend. They both were really nice also. Once we passed them Allana smiled at me. She's always really nice! Anyway, I kept sitting next to them to watch vault. In the break we again enjoyed the food and drinks in the Gym Club. On the way I spotted Zamolodchikova, who just won vault over Choussovitina, signing autographs, so I got her to sign a photo also! Zamolodchikova deserved winning vault with both her vaults being very good. Choussovitina had good landings also, but her vaults looked messy. By the way, we had notice, that she had her son with her in Stuttgart! We once saw her holding him by the hand going up some stairs, and another time they came to the training hall. He seems to be a sweet child. And he's almost half as tall as her already! Unfortunately I've lately heard, that it's not better with his illness but also not worse. I hope, there will be better news soon. For the beam final we then sat down in the second/third row to take photos. Ponor had a brilliant routine! Sadly Slater fell off, and Pavlova had some wobbles. So in the end we've had a Romanian winner's final which Ponor won with a routine just as good as at Worlds. She was the only gymnast getting a 10 start value on beam! Ban also had a brilliant routine landing her tumbling perfectly, but she just got a 9.9 start value. After the competition was over I went to my seat and packed my stuff. We then just left to get the shuttle bus back to the hotel. There we got our things and kept talking for a while. My friend Irit taped the competition, so we had a first look on what she recorded also. Then it was time to say good-bye, and we left to go to the train station. There we had enough time left to have dinner. Once again we've had a brilliant week-end in Stuttgart, and I enjoyed everything a lot. I'm happy, that things are almost completely back to the old times and not as bad as last year with people even taking away your cameras! I've had an absolutely great time and wonderful moments to remember! And so I'm already now looking forward to the competition next year again! International events Page. Contents page. Page (c) Martina Eggeling and Bernard Garau for : Kostiskal Docs are copyrighted and can not be reproduced without permission. |