The playful floor
exercise of
Ukraine’s Yana
Demyanchuk was
definitely a meet
highlight.
In the junior division, Russia’s Kristina
Kruglikova placed second all-around to
Ukraine’s Yevgenia Cherniy (below left).
WHEN you treat people right,
they will come back. And that
was precisely the plan for the
first Nadia Comaneci International Invitational, held Feb. 21 in colorful downtown Oklahoma City.
For 15 years prior, the “Nadia meet” ran successfully as an age-group competition at the Bart
Conner Gymnastics Academy in Norman, Okla.
But this year, an international elite session was
added and the whole show was moved to the
spacious Cox Arena in the most popular section
of the city.
Gymnasts from eight countries squared off on
Saturday night in a two-score
team event and separate senior and junior individual competition. The field of dreams
was headlined by 2008
Olympic floor exercise champion Sandra Izbasa, who led
Romania to the team title
with the help of Daniela
Druncea. Izbasa and Druncea
also placed first and third, respectively, in the
senior all-around.
Runner-up Ukraine was paced by a talented
trio from Kiev. Yana Demyanchuk placed second
all-around in the senior division, and Yevgenia
Cherniy and Natalia Kononenko finished first
and third, respectively, in the juniors.
The team from Israel, led by junior national
champion Roni Rabinovitz, was overjoyed to win
the bronze. “I’m very, very happy,” said coach
Zahava Zissman, in tears. “It’s a surprise for me,
and the girls did a very good job, and everything
in the competition was wonderful.”
Though she was not yet in peak condition for
the coming season, Izbasa still displayed a competitor’s heart. She threw the book on beam
(front somi; front aerial, flip-flop, layout; layout
gainer; side aerial; wolf-full; side somi; roundoff
double twist). Using her Olympic music on floor,
Izbasa opened with a tucked full-in and followed
with an excellent triple twist. After a 11⁄2 twist to
front-full and 21⁄2 twist dismount, the 18-year-old
Bucharest native received a standing ovation.
Izbasa watered down vault and bars (giant- 11⁄2,
Jaeger; Gienger) a bit but still had enough substance to claim the senior all-around crown.
“It’s a great pleasure for me to be here,”
Izbasa said. “Nadia made this competition very,
very good. Not many people are able to make
this competition like her. In the future I would
like to come [again].”
Demyanchuk, 15, lost her
chance of upsetting favorite
Izbasa right at the start, when
she dropped off the beam on
her first element, a front
somi. Coached by Oksana
Pershyna, the diminutive
Demyanchuk regrouped and
finished the routine—and the
rest of the meet—quite well. Her floor, in particular, was cleverly choreographed to engage the
crowd, and her tumbling was clean: 21⁄2 twist;
double twist; 11⁄2 twist to front layout; double
pike. She vaulted a Yurchenko-full and finished
her meet on bars, where she caught a Tkatchev
and dismounted with a full-out.
Druncea, 18, went three-for-four to place
third. After a strong start on beam (side somi;
front aerial; flip-flop, pike; switch leap, back
tuck; front somi; roundoff, 21⁄2 twist dismount)
and floor (full-in; triple twist, 21⁄2 twist, punch
front; double pike), the tiny Romanian put her
hands down on vault. She finished her night on
bars with a Gienger, Pak salto, Jaeger and full-in
dismount.
