day three, Demy takes beam and Izbasa stays in bounds

It was a naturally slow start for a Sunday morning but it got interesting very fast, with a boat trip on the Spree river. Beautiful! 

Then I rushed to get to the Max Schmeling Halle I had four more finals to see (three and a half actually because the last train to Dutchland leaves at 4:50pm from Central Station. Boo!). So, I was saying, I left the boat in a rush to get there in time for the MAG vault final. After the people at the entrance checked all the corners of my backpack, and I was finally inside, as I was trying to put back in all my stuff, I saw Bellu and Lucian Sandu quietly walking towards the stands. Hm... I was holding my camera. Should I take a picture? I decided to ask them first if it was ok. It seemed silly to just jump in front of them and take pictures. So I asked. "Yes, sure" Bellu answered, but then he decided it was even better if I were in the pictures too. It seemed the logical thing to do :)

So now I have a picture with The Man.

I enjoyed so much the MAG vault final that I forgot to take pictures. 

Then there was the women's beam. Given the fact that there were no Romanians in the final and Aliya was out (which sounds like the end of the world...$*%$$ !!) I couldn't have asked for a better podium.

Anna Dementieva managed to pull off her best routine in ages. 

Carlotta Ferlito was fabulous. Love her mount!

Preziosa was simply beautiful (a not very nice man didn't allow me to take pics anymore when she competed sigh). Maybe my only wish that did not come true was for Vasiliki to medal too. She did a great job!

In the end the Italian family was delighted.

Then there was the Floor final. I could only watch the first five competitors (and I pushed my luck because I  literally had to run to catch the train). Looking back, I can say that Izbasa has done better routines this spring. I think Diana Chelaru should have had a slightly better E score. It's hard to say who was better that day, but Diana Chelaru said it better. "I am happy when the Romanian anthem plays even if I'm on the second or third spot."

So, after three days, I left the Fabulous City much in the same condition I was when I first arrived there: hungry and exhausted. Those were among the best days of my life!

Day two, in which Koczi wins

And the story continues... 

The next day I wanted revenge. Because by that time I had found out the whole MAG AA story. I was furious! Koczi has been, for the last 5 years maybe, the best Romanian gymnast that could do six events. He  always had the goods yet he was never quite there. And now, that he managed to keep it together he did not win just because the competition was held in Germany!! Furious.

I arrived at Max-Schmeling pretty early. So I had some time to notice that Steliana Nistor was there (she looks very good), and at one point was chatting with Vanessa Ferrari.

When the MAG floor final begun and I saw the huge marks the first competitors were getting I thought Flavius Koczi will not get his compensation in that final. 15.3... 15.2.... 15.4 And then Koczi wowed the audience! 15.5 - first place. He was overwhelmed by emotions when the final was over. I almost shed a tear as well.

Next up, the WAG vault final. This final had its bright moments (Izbasa, Chusho, Kaeslin's first vault) and the not so happy: Giulia Steingruber's missed vault first comes to mind. I think she may have been overwhelmed by the fact that she was one of the favorites. Then Amelia Racea who focused too much on controlling the flight phase and gave away the landing on her DTY. Oh she is capable of such a good DTY, too bad we did not see it live! Kaeslin was very disappointed after her second vault, she obviously felt that she could have done much better than that. When they were waiting for Ariella's score, I think I read on Sandra's lips "I couldn't have done more than that".

Sandra had indeed two impressive vaults. The judges were much more severe than at Worlds and she still got a 9+ E score for the second vault.

On the uneven bars almost everything went as expected. I mean the people that fought for the medals were Bui, Nabieva, Seitz, Tweddle. Seitz had a few hesitations and a low landing and lost. I loved Bui's routine. I thought she should have been above Navieva (but what do I know about uneven bars code?) so it was a bit of a relief when Tweddle finished first.

I ran again out of  the Max Schmeling, to meet friends. This time we had sushi and a Berliner beer at a place near the venue. It was very good and cheap (7 euros the sushi plate and 1.2 for the beer, not bad huh)?

Then we headed for Potsdamer Platz in time for the medal ceremonies. But not quick enough for good spots to take nice pictures.

Sony Center's Ceiling

There, I saw Flavius Koczi (very happy and very teary again) being smooched by a few girls and older ladies.

Floor Men

I clapped and I cheered as loudly as I could when Ama and Demy were introduced... There was no need to do the same for Seitz.

AA WAG podium

Sandra was happy but not overly excited (there's still a lot of work until London)

VT WAG podium

Then she told Alina Alexoi that she expected to do well on vault because she worked very hard and it would have been a disappointment not to win a medal after all the work.

Sandra Izbasa interviewed by TVR 

Then, we headed for Brandemburg gate where we took silly pictures of ourselves jumping around. The night ended in a place on Friedrichstrasse where I had a dessert that looked like a Kaiserschmarren and which I wished it had more pancake and less fruit :)

2011 Europeans Qualifications

Ama Racea  (photo source here)

It was an awkward day for the Romanians. It started in a disastrous way with Ama Racea falling on the uneven bars dismount (oh that double front, I hate that skill, I don't understand why people use it!) and it ended with the same Amelia qualifying for the Vault Finals.

So here are top five strangest things that happened today:

5: Ana Porgras got a 13.575 on UB for a routine with a D score of 6 while Diana Chelaru got a 13.65 for a routine out of 5.7

4: Diana Chelaru - turned out to be the top AA qualifier for Romania (3rd)

3: Amelia Racea qualified for the Vault finals (instead of Diana Chelaru)

2: No Romanian in the Beam finals (!!)

1: Sandra Izbasa -top qualifier for the Vault finals

the second strangest fact could have easily been the number one but I wanted to keep things on a positive note ;)

So if I ever see Bellu or Lucian Sandu in Berlin, I want to ask them what exactly does Ana Porgras' new UB routine lead to... Then, how come no one qualified for the beam finals, once the best event by far for the Romanians ... and how  come now we have two weak events instead of one (that happen to also be the highest scoring ones).

I am sure there are answers for this half  failure... Europeans are just a stage in the B&B big plan. They have never really made a purpose out of this meet. Historically, some of the worst meets Romania had were at Euros (3rd place with the team in 2000 behind Ukraine, the "scratched" one from 2002 when they only sent Petrovschi are a few examples that come to mind) but it wouldn't have been that terrible if Ana had stayed on that beam or if Ama wouldn't have had such a floor routine.

As others have pointed out, maybe this also happened because it was an individual event, the qualifications format is weird and also because these two competed in the first subdivision. a few hours later Ama's beam E score would have been considerably higher, the same for Ana's bars.

I hope it was just a bad day. Amelia at least can still prove herself...

But qualifications are over. Many competition days are ahead of us:

Friday's All Around finals with Chelaru and Amelia Racea

Saturday - Vault with Izbasa and Racea

Sunday - Floor with Izbasa and Chelaru

PS: Look at Sandra's vault WOW!

Thanks eamyy !