European Championships: German gymnastics team works

Created: 08/12/2022, 08:37

By: Gunter Klein

“People freaked out”: Kim Bui thrilled on uneven bars.

© dpa/

The European Championships have started and the German gymnasts are strong: Fourth in team qualification, four in apparatus finals.

Munich – When they were through with their program on balance beam, floor, vault and uneven bars, the German gymnasts had to go to more equipment: the massage table, because the European Championships are only just getting started, and seating to wait and see how long this one took would go out on Thursday.

Sarah Voss recalled that "we got up at 5:45 a.m." because the competition started at 10 a.m.

For the German team in "Subdivision 1", which sounds like football and Nations League and less like gymnastics.

Only in the fourth and last group were the other nations at the start, which you had to pay attention to in order to gain final insights.

At 8 p.m. everyone knew: eighth place for Kim Bui in the all-around, she also qualified fourth with Elisabeth Seitz (5th) for the final on uneven bars,

Emma Malewski (2nd) and Pauline Schäfer-Betz (8th) in the final battle on the balance beam.

Asia d'Amato (Italy) won the first gold.

It had already been clear in the morning that things had gone very well when the Germans united in a hopping cheering cluster and the uniform bun bounced up and down five times.

Gerben Wiersma, the national coach from the Netherlands, who has only been in office for a few months, spoke like a football coach that he was proud of the "team effort".

The team worked.

She qualified fourth behind Italy, Great Britain, France for the team final (Saturday).

The Germans felt the home advantage despite the still cautious public response.

So they got over the critical phase right at the beginning.

It started with the balance beam, which is not called the “trembling beam” for nothing;

Sarah Voss fell when she left.

"That was a shock moment for us," said Kim Bui, the 33-year-old who had won her first European Championship medal eleven years ago.

But Sarah Voss had the feeling "that the team caught me, who was struggling the most".

That was the case, and on the last piece of equipment, the uneven bars, the German squad really let it rip.

Kim Bui heard "that people are freaking out" and made a big gesture in front of the curve where the particularly squeaky supporters were sitting.

Kim Bui, Sarah Voss and Emma Malewski performed all four apparatus.

Pauline Schäfer-Betz and Elisabeth Seitz had a smaller program, "I had more time to cheer and I'm also a strong runner," said Seitz.

Malewski, 18, was the surprise.

A year ago, the Hamburg native, who trains in Chemnitz, only finished 40th at the European Championships, in Tokyo she was a substitute.

"Sensational" was how Kim Bui felt about the performance of the youngest colleague, whose nerves were strong enough to open the balance beam competition for the team.

Malevsky was 14th.

Kim Bui felt "goosebumps when we marched in".

The Munich Olympic Hall has its history of gymnastics, which you know, even if you were born decades after 1972: the tears and laughter of Olga Korbut, the elegance of Karin Janz - they are part of the basic knowledge.

And the hall, perfectly lit, creates sufficient proximity from the seats to the four podiums with the devices.

It just fits.