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Elisabeth Seitz in the uneven bars final of the European Championships in Munich
Photo:
Martin Meissner / AP
The German gymnasts won two surprising gold medals at the European Championships in the Munich Olympic Hall.
The German record champion Elisabeth Seitz started on the uneven bars: The Stuttgart native won ahead of Alice D'Amato from Italy and France's Lorette Chappy.
»I've been here since 2009 and had so many fourth, fifth and sixth places.
Now it all feels overwhelming," said the 28-year-old Seitz on the ARD microphone.
"Gold is amazing."
In her very last competition, Seitz' teammate Kim Bui came in fifth and was also celebrated by the audience.
Bui said goodbye to the audience with tears and a deep bow: "My exercise was pure concentration, after that everything was beautiful."
The German gymnasts were also able to celebrate a surprising gold medal on the balance beam.
18-year-old Emma Malewski relegated favorite Ondine Achampong from Great Britain to second place.
After a mistake on the ascent and a time violation, ex-world champion Pauline Schäfer-Betz (also from Chemnitz) had to be satisfied with fifth place.
“It's just fantastic, a perfect day.
Because of the many spectators, everything feels even more crass.
I'm a bit proud of myself," said 18-year-old Malewski on the ARD microphone.
After three days of rest, the European Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Munich will continue on Thursday with the men's competitions.
Local hero Lukas Dauser from Unterhaching, Olympic silver medalist on parallel bars, has the best chance of a medal.
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