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By Caroline.


2003 French Internationals (part 2).
 
The French girls under the microscope.

Marine Debauve.
Marine could rejoice on Saturday as the marks she received on beam and bars would have opened the door to the finals for her. Unfortunately she was too young for a World Cup competition and competed outside of the tournament so in any case couldn't take part in the finals. Her bars routine was admittedly typical of many but also clean, and it would have put her in third position.
On beam she quite simply received the best mark of the qualifications. On this piece so often dreaded by others Marine performed somersaults in all directions (aerial salto, side salto, Onodi flip) with a calm assurance that was astonishing in a girl of barely 15 years old. When she was a junior she competed in many tournaments and has a solid background of experience. This was certainly an advantage for her that paid off today. "Basically I'm just incredibly happy!" she declared.

Soraya Chaouch.
Soraya also competed outside of the main competition, where we expected to see her on floor, her strongest apparatus; however she wasn't able to fully prepare for this piece due to a knee problem. Yves Kieffer preferred to enter her for the beam and bars competitions so that she might gain more experience. This wasn't a fortunate choice for Soraya; on beam she fell and gave herself a real fright on a jump changement with quarter turn.
On bars she fell at the start of her routine but recovered well for the rest of the exercise. Obviously she was a little disappointed, and she admitted to us: "This competition will be a learning curve for me. You have to keep your concentration right to the end of the routine. Once I'd done my hardest skills on the beam I relaxed a little on an element that I thought was easier and so I fell off."

Gaëlle Richard.
The blond-haired girl from Créteil had hoped to make the final for her strongest apparatus, bars, and possibly more. Unfortunately she fell off on her Jaeger salto in the qualifications. "I was really disappointed after my routine! Falling on a release is infuriating as it's not the trickiest part of my exercise." Allowed into the final (don't forget that France as the host nation has the right to a wild card), she recovered superbly, taking the bronze medal behind Khorkina and Tweddle: "Who would have thought it? I feel really satisfied, especially when I look at who is in front of me!".
On floor her main objective was to take part. A fall on one of her tumbling runs credited her with an 8.575 but her physique and her expressiveness are without a doubt her strong points. According to her trainer, Gaëlle should be able to get better still, and her floor is going to be redeveloped with this in mind.

A Gym Star in Paris Bercy.

Emilie Lepennec.
Enrolled for three apparatus (beam, floor and bars) Emilie's performance fell a little wide of the mark in qualifications, as was the case for her team-mate Gaëlle. A fall on beam during a very difficult element brought deductions for an exercise that was otherwise perfect (8.625). It was the same scenario for her bars where she missed her connection and fell.
Emilie recovered on floor and qualified for the final with 4 very high tumbling runs to the music of West Side Story (9.05). Allowed into the final (for the same reasons as for her friend Gaëlle), she gleaned the bronze medal on beam - a medal which encapsulates the potential of this young girl. Her exercise is a dazzling display of difficulty, including notably an Arabian punch front (a super E which is the highest grade for an element), a tour jeté with half twist, a Rulfova, and a triple twist dismount.

Coralie Chacon.
There wasn't much to report about her two vaults, as her work was excellent. Coralie had the highest start values of all the contenders, with 9.80 for her handspring one and a half twist in tuck position (also known as the Varga) and 9.90 for her double twisting Tsukahara. Very few gymnasts in the world do better than this. Her performance is technically very correct and her landings steady, and the marks reflect this. The verdict was a first place after qualifications and a silver medal in the final. "I'm very happy but to be honest I wasn't thinking about a medal. I just wanted to stay focused and do the best vaults I could." On beam she finished ninth in qualifications, having had several wobbles.

According to Yves Kieffer, the national trainer:
"Before the competition we were hoping that each girl would make the finals. They all have the potential. Without a doubt, we were very disappointed and frustrated on Saturday evening after their performance in qualifications, by comparison with what they had shown in training. Apart from Marine who was very strong and Coralie who did what she was expected to do, the others performed very much within their capabilities.
It's not the content of their exercises that is the problem, because they definitely have that, it's their lack of experience in top competition. Now in the finals on Sunday they managed to pull themselves together and showed how good they really are. We still have things to work on, but I am confident. It was the first event of the season, the group is talented, consistent and dynamic."
 

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