Besides. It works so often. A swing, a straddle, the next swing. But this time Emelie Petz grabbed while recovering at the upper spar next to it and had to leave the bar. It was the first exercise on the first unit - at the first World Championship for 16-year-old Petz.
Schmidt / dpa
The German women narrowly missed the team final at the World Championships in Stuttgart
Petz was one of those hungry children whose parents later told him that they had always been playing at home, somersaulting on the couch, or at least trying again and again. So the mother, formerly a gymnast, just sent her to a club. She was four years young when she entered the hall of TSG Baknang. "My first question was: Can I become world champion here?" Petz told SPIEGEL before the World Cup in Stuttgart.
She could not remember exactly the answer. But it must have been a good, said Petz, after all, they have joined the club - and turns from then on from one success to the next. In junior she won 15 national titles between 2015 and 2018. In 2017 and 2018 she dominated with gold in both the all-around and all four fixtures, expectations of changing to the open class were very high.
Rattay / REUTERS
Emelie Petz has already trained somersaults on the sofa as a child
A mental trainer helps Petz stay cool
"There's already some pressure there," admitted Petz. "But I usually turn the print into something positive and think it's really cool, what I've already worked out and how far I've come."
To cement this attitude, Petz works with a mental coach. She realized early on that it is not easy to grow up in competitive sports, to master the transition in teenage years, where girls are suddenly so much more concerned about their lives.
"I just realized that I think a lot more than before and sometimes play with my thoughts," says Petz. "It used to be: I got the job, I did it, done, now I'm starting to think more and more, which is good, but that can be negative, and then I got some help."
Petz was always the youngest and smallest in their groups
Anyway, Petz had always been a bit ahead of her aging, Ulla Koch thinks. "The Emi has never been treated like a kid," said the DTB head coach. Although she was always the same: the youngest and the smallest in her groups because she was always ahead of everyone. "You have always been taught: Man, you can rely on yourself."
As a result, she assumes responsibility at an early age. Just like their first World Cup. When the team had discussed who was first on the first device and their name fell, Petz did not shy away from the task. "This is a very big step for such a young woman to say, I'm the first person to go to Germany for the device, and then I'll show what I can do."
"And sometimes I have to switch back a gear"
Petz has gone into the home world championship with much anticipation. Especially since she left her first appearance with the adults disappointed. At the European Championships in the spring she had mopped both on the uneven bars and on the balance beam. However, she had been operated on in the fall of last year on the right foot, realistically Petz had mastered the EM therefore well, says Koch.
But Petz is also a very ambitious guy. Sometimes too ambitious, as she says herself. "And sometimes I have to switch back a gear."