The first set of medals at the European Gymnastics Championships as part of the European Championships 2022 in Munich has been awarded, Asia D’Amato is the European All-Around Champion in gymnastics. Anyone who wanted to see the entire competition needed a little patience, saw a strong German team, smelled popcorn and heard a strange mix of music. Impressions of the first decision from the Olympic Hall.
Asia D’Amato sent another “thank you to everyone” into the hall, that’s all she could get out on Thursday evening (11.08.2022) shortly after 8 p.m. at the arena microphone in the Olympiahalle in Munich, a few tears of joy also flowed over her her face. The emotions were probably just too big for her after all the hugs and all the celebrations including their national flag.
Because the Italian D’Amato had recently become the first European Champion of the European Championships 2022 in Munich in the gymnastics all-around, after which she also experienced another unique moment of these games in Munich. Because the gold medal of the 19-year-old was the first and at the same time the only one of these nine sports multi-EM on the first day of competition.
Kim Bui best German in the all-around
D’Amato won ahead of Britain’s Alice Kinsella and her compatriot Martina Maggio. Kim Bui was eighth in the singles as the strongest German. The competition also served as a qualification for the team finals on Saturday and the special apparatus finals on Sunday. The team of the German Gymnastics Federation finished fourth and safely qualified for the final.
Sitting meat required in the Olympic Hall
In order to get everything, the gymnastics fans needed a little patience in the Olympic Hall, which was laid out with a blue carpet: the decision started at 10 a.m. – and it only ended shortly before 8 p.m., when France was the last of the 27 selections to finish the all-around.
Mix of chart hits and classical music
It was a day on which chart, techno and classical music alternated in a ten-hour mix, there was something by Parov Stelar to be heard from the speakers, wild guitar solos, but also “Sweet Dreams” in the acoustic version. The indoor DJ Lukas couldn’t do anything about it, the playlist was designed according to the preferences of the respective athletes in floor exercises – and was therefore rightly chosen to be so diverse.
Popcorn scent without popcorn
And it was a day when, to all appearances, almost no one in the enthusiastic and well-informed audience ate popcorn, but there were wisps of the smell clearly in the hall. The gymnastics elite’s venue for the European Championships is actually an event arena in which cabaret artists, orchestras and bands perform, and singer Tina Turner has performed more than 20 times. Apparently, such a hall doesn’t quite get out of the foldable fabric seats and ventilation shafts. Incidentally, in the corridors around the interior, where lockers are lined up, it smells more like a school gym.
German gymnasts deliver an impressive performance
The German team had to start at 10:00 a.m. And she caught a brilliant competition with all kinds of suitable jumps, turns, twists and somersaults: Bui, Emma Malewski, Pauline Schäfer-Betz, Elisabeth Seitz and Sarah Voss are equipped as qualifiers for the final on Saturday on balance beam, floor, vault and uneven bars . It was an impressive performance – and you could tell how happy the Munich audience was.
Bui and that “Goosebumps Feeling”
“I’m definitely satisfied”said 18-year-old Malewski, speaking for everyone: “When we marched in this morning, it gave you goosebumps”, thought Bui, who ended her long career after the European Championships. She has been there since the 2005 World Cup.
Visser receives applause from the scene for a furious uneven bars exercise
The spectators applauded and cheered, especially a loud group of girls at the top of Block M. And right from the start, Germany’s gymnasts were in a good mood – only Voss allowed himself a blunder when dismounting from the balance beam. A murmur of the sympathetic kind went through the hall for a moment. But all right, she got up right away.
Visser got the first applause from the scene long before that after her formidable exercise on the uneven bars. With 14.266 points she was the second best on the device – in that respect it was already a specialist audience between the Dutch, Slovakian, Austrian and German flags in the Olympic Hall.
Butterfly irritates Schäfer-Betz
It was perhaps only a fifth full, but at the right moments it also ensured silence and great volume, mind you on a weekday. “The mood was great. It can only get better now. Saturday and Sunday should be full,” said Voss.
Aha moment: When only Schäfer-Betz was doing gymnastics in the entire hall, she put both hands to her ears after landing from the balance beam – and the initially hesitant, but then increasing first “Oly-Roarrr” of the spectators of these games also with help of the bass from the speakers picked up speed. It was a foretaste of a possible sound of these games.
Schäfer-Betz had previously made acquaintance with a butterfly. The moth had settled on the balance beam exactly where she wanted to put her foot before her exercise. After that he apparently flew away. No further details are known about his whereabouts.
Bui praises audience – Fenton turns new exercise
a loud one “Yeah!” again Bui escaped after her last landing, she had made the strongest German impression in qualifying. And an even louder one “Yeah!” yelled the spectators at the mat in front of the uneven bars. Bui showed his fist. “After the parallel bar exercise, it feels like they all freaked out. Please continue like this!”she said afterwards.
Later it got almost as loud twice when the British Georgia-Mae Fenton created a new exercise on the uneven bars at 6.38 p.m., which will bear her name in the future – and when the winner D’Amato was determined. One thing remains for Bui and her German team after the start: It kept its chances of a medal – on Saturday with the team and especially on Sunday on balance beam (Schäfer-Betz and Malewski) and uneven bars (Bui and Seitz).