Women World Artistic Gymnastics Championship Results In Doha 2018

Abstract

This article presents an analysis of the 48^th World Artistic Gymnastics Championship which was held in Doha, Qatar from October 25 to November 3 in 2018. National teams participated in this championship. 6 sets of medals were played in the women competitions. 252 athletes from 76 countries fought for the right to be the best in world artistic gymnastics. Gymnasts aged 16 and over (born in 2002) took part in championship. Most of them were in the age group from 16 to 20 (181 women), the oldest was Oksana Chusovitina from Uzbekistan (43 years). The purpose of the research is to estimate their level of preparedness takin into account their preparation for the upcoming 2020 Summer Olympics. Critical understanding of new information is a prerequisite for determining ways to further improve the training process aimed at achieving the highest sports result. The success of Russian gymnasts in the most important international competitions shows the achievements of the national training school of athletes and specialists’ clear view on trends of gymnastics development, that provide this training. One of the ways to develop gymnastics is to strive for continuous improvement of performance, in which two components can be distinguished: the content of competitive programs and the level of performance. The requirements for evaluating the various aspects of a competitive program undergo changes and are reflected in the rules of the competition, which are adjusted in each Olympic cycle.

Keywords: Artistic gymnasticstypes of all-aroundexecutioncompetitions

Introduction

Current Olympic cycle crossed the equator. 2018 Championship revealed the best gymnasts of the planet who are going to continue their struggle for the right to participate in 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. Further training of the athletes cannot be implemented without analysis of the balance of forces on the world stage (Arkaev & Suchilin, 2004). Studying trends of artistic gymnastics development will allow to predict perspectives of sport development in Russia on the eve of the final stage of current Olympic cycle (Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique, 2016; Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique, 2018c; Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique, 2018b).

On the basis of the team finals, teams that finished in the first three places will automatically enter the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo (Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique, 2018b; Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique, 2018a). According to the results of the competition these are women’s teams from USA, Russia and China.

Problem Statement

The problematic situation is due to the need to continuously analyze the results of the performances of the leading national gymnastics teams at international competitions for an objective assessment of the preparedness level of Russian athletes for the 2020 Olympics.

Research Questions

1. Analyze the results of the performance of national teams at the 2018 World Artistic Gymnastics Championship.

2. Study trends in the development of gymnastics in the world to predict the perspectives for the development of this sport in Russia.

Purpose of the Study

The purpose of the study is to assess the level of preparedness of the Russian national team gymnastics with regard to their preparation for the upcoming 2020 Olympics, to analyze the performance of the Russian national team gymnasts at the 48^th World Championship in team competition, individual all-around and individual events.

Research Methods

As a research method, we used the analysis of FIG regulations on the selection procedure for gymnasts at the XXXII 2020 Olympics in Tokyo (Japan), the analysis of materials from FIG website with information about the 48th World Championship and video analysis of the FIG channel footages.

In the methodological aspect, artistic gymnastics is considered as a complex system, the progressive development of which is associated with the generalization and analysis of the facts of the increasing complexity of competitive activity, the growth of sporting achievements and the sustainability of the results of world gymnast leaders. Critical understanding of new information is a prerequisite for determining ways to further improve the training process aimed at achieving the highest sports result.

Women competitions began with qualification, which took 2 days due to a large number of participants (11 streams). Russia’s athletes got into a ninth stream according to a toss and began to compete after the performance of the main rivals – athletes from USA, China. Russian team included Irina Alekseeva, Angelina Melnikova, Angelina Simakova, Liliya Ahaimova, Aliya Mustafina. According to the results of the performance of the athletes and preliminary applications there were made up three types of qualification competition protocols, based on which finalists were defined: team competitions (out of 42 teams), gymnastic all-around (out of 144 athletes) and individual competitions in separate types of contest (out of 28 in vaults, out of 191 in uneven bars contest, out of 198 in balance beam contest and out of 191 athletes on floor).

Russian national team athletes I. Alekseeva and A. Melnikova took part in all 4 types of qualification team competitions, A. Mustafina and A. Simakova in three types, L. Ahaimova in one type. Three best results were took into account out of 4 results of athletes, the sum of points in all competitions defined the overall results of the team in qualification round. Russian team passed the qualification with success to the finals and took the second place with score 165,497. Russian athletes got ahead of Chinese gymnasts (165,196) and gave way to American athletes (174,429). Terms of standings were different in finals for 8 teams. Only three athletes from national team performed routines in each type of contest and all points were considered in order to define champions and prizewinners. American athletes were obvious leaders, their advantage were demonstrated in all 4 types of competitions and they became the world champions with an overall score 171,629. Russian team ended up 8,766 points behind getting silver medal with an overall result 162,863 points and Chinese athletes got bronze (162,396 points), who gave away to Russian gymnasts 0,467 points. Teams of that 3 countries gathered a license and got the right to take part in 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.

Qualification competitions defined 24 athletes to take part in finals of women’s all-around. Rating of gymnasts was formed by sum of 4 scores in all types of competitions. An obvious leader in this all-around round was Simone Biles (60,965 points). Russian athletes were far behind: A. Melnikova reached the final with fifth score (55,465 points) and I. Alekseeva became twelfth with 53,532 points. All-around final didn’t change the position of Russian gymnasts in world rating. Simone Biles became the world champion in all-around contest (57,499 points), whose victory was provided by the performance with unique program on floor – 15,000 points (D 6,600; E 8,500). Japanese gymnast M. Murakami took the silver medal with 55,798 points and American athlete M. Hurd took the bronze medal with 55,732 points. A. Melnikova performed her program without significant mistakes and retained her fifth place (she gave away to S. Biles 1,794 points). Adelina’s score in several types of all-around competitions were close to American, Belgian and Japanese leaders’ scores, which confirmed her competitiveness. She got 14,166 points in vault (D 5,400; E 8,766), 14,433 points in uneven bars (D 6,100; E 8,333), 13,466 points in balance beam competition (D 5,300; E 8,166), 13,633 on floor (D 5,800; E 7,933; deduction -0,1) and her score in all-around competition was only 0,035 points lower, than world championship bronze medalist Morgan Hurd’s score. Russian athlete Irina Alekseeva retained her twelfth position in final of all-around contest with 53,898 points: in vault 13,633 (D 4,600; E 9,033), in uneven bars 13,866 D 5,900; E7,966), in balance beam contest mistakes were made and the score was 13,366 (D 5,300; E 8,066), the least successful was performance on floor with the score 12,933 (D 5,200; E 7,733). Analysis of women all-around competition results reveals, that Russian athletes retain an opportunity of progress in performances and higher positions in medal standings.

Results of two Russian gymnasts are presented in qualification competitions protocol. Liliya Ahaimova’s result in 14,099 points matched the ninth rating (scores: in first vault D 5,800; E 8,766; in second vault D 5,600; E 8,333). Angelina Melnikova’s result in 14,012 points matched the eleventh rating (scores: in first vault D 5,400; E 8,866; in second vault D 5,300; E 8,658). Both athletes only made it to the reserve finals in this type of competition. Aliya Mustafina got the sixth rating in uneven bars qualification competition with 14,433 points (D 5,800; E 8,633) and made it to the final. Angelina Melnikova got the twelfth rating with 14,300 points (D 6,300; E 8,000), but made it only to the reserve finals. Third Russian gymnast Angelina Simakova was unsuccessful in qualification competitions and with 12,366 points (D 5,400; E 6,966) got only the 68th rating. There were 4 Russian gymnasts presented in balance beam qualification competitions. However, none of them performed without mistakes. A. Simakova was the best with 13th rating and 13,400 points (D 5,400; E 8,100), A. Mustafina got 16th rating with 13,233 (D 5,600; E 7,633), I. Alekseeva got the 23rd rating with 13,133 (D 5,500; E 7,633), A. Melnikova got the 36th rating with 12,866 points (D 5,100; E 7,766). In qualification competitions on floor 4 Russian athletes are presented. A. Melnikova got the 3rd rating with 14,033 points (D 5,900; E 8,133), L. Ahaimova got the 8th rating with 13,600 points (D 5,700; E 7,900), A. Mustafina got the 17th rating with 13,200 points (D 4,900; E 8,400, deduction -0,1), I. Alekseeva got the 27th rating with 13,066 points (D 5,100; E 7,966). Russian athletes made it to the finals in uneven bars (A. Mustafina) and on floor (A. Melnikova and L. Ahaimova) competitions.

In the first day of the finals on several types of the apparatus women were competing in vaults and on uneven bars, and in the second day on balance beam and on floor. S. Biles became the world champion in vault with 15,366 points (scores: first vault D 6,000; E 9,266; second vault D 5,800, E 9,666). Canadian athlete S. Olsen got the silver medal (score: first vault D 6,000; E 8,600; second vault D 5,400; E 9,033). Mexican athlete A. Moreno got the bronze with 14,508 points (scores: first vault D 5,800; E 8,800; second vault D 5,600; E 8,916). N. Derwael became the world champion in uneven bars with 15,200 points (D 6,500, E 8,700). S. Biles got the silver medal with 14,700 points (D 6,200; E 8,500) and German athlete E. Seitz got the bronze with 14,600 points (D 6,200; E 8,400). Aliya Mustafina got the 5th rating in uneven bars competition finals with 14,433 points (D 5,800; E 8,633). Russian gymnasts didn’t take part in balance beam competition finals. Liu Tingting (China) became the world champion in this type of competitions with 14,533 points (D 6,300; E 8,233). Ana Padarariu got the silver medal with 14,100 points (D 6,300; E 8,233). S. Biles got the bronze with 13,600 points (D 6,200; E 7,400). In the last type of competitions S. Biles was far ahead of her rivals, she became the world champion on floor with 14,933 points (D 6,700; E 8,533). Result of 13,933 points (D 5,500; E 8,433) provided American athlete M. Hurd a silver medal. M. Murakami got the bronze medal with 13,866 points (D 5,700; E 8,156). A. Melnikova was only 0,033 points behind her with 13,833 points (D 5,700; E 8,133). L. Ahaimova (Russia) got the 7th rating in finals with 13,366 points (D 5,800; E 7,566).

There is not so much time before the most important competition of the four years – Olympics, and it’s crucial to use the remaining time rationally. Adjustments to planning a process of each athlete’s training should be made takin into account the result of current year and its correlations with model characteristics (Alekseev, Gromova, & Silantev, 2016; Lalaeva, 2019; Terekhina, Borisenko, & Kovrizhnykh, 2016; Terekhina, Burda-Andrianova, Dobreva, & Dondi, 2008; Saharnova, Kiviharyu, & Somkin, 2019).

The best results of gymnasts on World Championship in all events can be reference points while preparing for the next competitions (Table 1 ) (Kryuchek & Terekhina, 2019).

Results of Russian gymnasts on 2018 World Championship are proven by a medal standings, presented in table 2 and 3.

During the last two Olympic cycles Russian gymnasts were receiving gold medals, but today the alignment of forces on the world stage changed. Russian athletes fall behind, and American gymnasts are in the lead. Russian gymnasts showed a good result but there are still many problems in preparation of each athlete. In the remaining time before Summer Olympics in Tokyo Russian athletes need to increase the complexity of routines and improve execution.

Findings

One of the key moments of the past 48th World Artistic Gymnastics Championship can be considered a successful performance after a two-year break (from XXXI 2016 Olympics) of national teams leaders of Russia A. Mustafina and USA S. Biles. The American gymnast personally won three gold medals, a silver medal on uneven bars, a bronze medal on balance beam, which played a significant role in the medal standings of the US team, thus ensuring a ticket to the XXXII 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. Having simplified her jump in the finals (having performed a turn of 540 ° in the second flight phase), she performed it at a high technical level, winning a gold medal in this event. This can be considered as the perspective for mastering and performing vaults with an acrobatic swoop on the spring-board (roundoff) (Somkin, 2015). A. Mustvfina contributed to winning silver medals in the team championship and getting into the 2020 Olympics from the first attempt.

Thus, the Russian gymnasts need to solve the problem of winning back the highest achievements of modern gymnastics. This can be achieved by combining all the components of the performing arts: complexity, composition, technical and artistic performance. This will provide an advantage over a rival and retain a leading position in the world (Terekhina & Borisenko, 2017; Massimo & Massimo, 2012).

Conclusion

As a result of the study, the following conclusions can be drawn:

1. The Russian national team including L. Ahaimova, I. Alekseeva, A. Melnikova, A. Mustafina and A. Simakova, took the second team place, thus ensuring a ticket to the XXXII 2020 Olympics 2020 in Tokyo.

2. Given the Russian team lagging behind the US team, their leader S. Biles in the difficulty level of the routines presented, as well as total points in all-round, the main task of Russian Olympic national team in gymnastics will be to win prizes in individual all-around.

3. It is necessary to focus on training gymnasts specializing in individual types of all-around, who can compete with gymnasts from other countries in the finals in all events.

4. During the two previous Olympic cycles, the gymnasts of Russia received gold medals, but today the alignment of forces on the world stage has changed. Russian athletes are inferior, and the leading position is confidently taken by American athletes. Russian gymnasts showed a good result, but many problems remain in the preparation of each gymnast. The remaining time before the Olympic Games in Tokyo, Russian athletes need to increase the complexity of competitive programs and improve all the components of performance skill

5. The trends formulated by Arkaev and Wiener-Usmanov are stable and remain relevant at the current stage of development of an artistic gymnastics.

References

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