TOP: Clean execution helped Russia’s Konstantin Pluzhnikov to win the rings gold.
LEFT: With tons of difficulty, Germany’s
Marcel Nguyen won parallel bars by a com-
fortable margin.
ABOVE & OPPOSITE INSET: World vault champion Thomas Bouhail of France won his specialty in Berlin, followed by compatriot Samir
Ait Said (left) and Russia’s Anton
Golotsutskov.
OPPOSITE BOTTOM: Hungary’s Krisztian Berki
won his fifth European pommel horse title.
His first four were in 2005, ’07, ’08 and ’09.
Koczi said he took solace in his ability to stay
focused and consequently hit six for six. “I didn’t
see the scores until the end,” said Koczi, the
Romanian men’s first European all-around medalist
since Razvan Selariu also won silver in 2005. “I did-
n’t think or talk about the Start Values or anything
except the routines. Maybe this was the best com-
petition I’ve had. In the past, I would always fall, but
now I did everything I could.”
Unfortunately for Nguyen and Devyatovsky,
Boy’s assessment of them as two of his three top
opponents proved to be off-target, as major breaks
dropped them out of the medals. Nguyen, who has
quickly returned to top form after breaking his leg
last fall, was in first place at the halfway point. But
he peeled off on a combination of half Takemoto-
Kovacs on high bar in the fourth rotation, and fin-
ished the day in sixth place. As in past competi-
tions, Devyatovsky proved to be his own worst
