The 2007 World Championships proved to be a rollercoaster of emotions for Great Britain.
In the senior event, Jaime Moore led highs with a superb individual performance that secured a third consecutive ladies place for Great Britain at the 2008 Beijing Games.
Jaime, who competed in the Sydney 2000 Olympics, scored 63.40 to finish in 11, behind a high-class field, that was eventually won by Russia's defending champion Irina Karavaeva.
Jaime's team and club mate Yasmin Gumbs, in her first senior World Championships, performed two solid routines to finish in 33rd place.
Their team-mates, seven-time British Ladies champion Claire Wright and her synchro partner Kat Driscoll, both made uncharacteristic errors in their voluntary routines, but joined forces to bounced back in style and secured a place in the synchro final.
With a score of 83.50, Driscoll and Wright entered the final in 5th place, on the same score as the 4th placed Ukrainian's Yulia D omchevska and Olena Movchan.
The extremely strong final round saw Claire and Kat finish in 8th place overall.
On this occasion, the men's team – Gary Smith, James Higgins, Mark Alexander and Simon Milnes – were unfortunately unable to match Jaime's feat and failed to secure a British men's place in the Beijing Olympics.
Despite their valiant efforts, Gary, James, Mark and Simon were overcome by the talents of the increasingly dominant Chinese in the large group of almost 100 competitors.
One of the lowest points of the event came in the double mini trampoline competition.
Medal hopeful Asha Philip was injured after two spectacular passes that wowed the crowds and saw her heading into the final in 3rd place, just 0.3 off first.
Philip, who is already a world champion – she won the World Youth 100-metres title earlier this year – landed awkwardly in the final and twisted her knee.
Philips has since had surgery on her knee and it looks like she'll miss the forthcoming season both on the track and on the trampoline. We wish her a speedy recovery.
Her compatriots, Nicola Pugh, Kirsty Ward and Asha Bayliss performed well to finish 16th, 20th and 21st respectively, which saw the ladies' team finish in 5th.
In the men's DMT competition Toby Eager and bouncing brothers Dominic and Matthew Swaffer may not have made the individual final, but were buoyed by Michael Scott−Beaulieu, who entered the final in 6th place.
Michael finished the competition in 8th, after scoring 0.0 for his first pass in the final, but was consoled by the fact that his earlier performances, along with those of the Dominic, Matthew and Toby gave Great Britain the team bronze medal, behind the United States and Russia.
The men's tumbling team – Michael Barnes, Greg Boosey, Charlie Burrows and Damien Walters – were hoping to at least match the medal won by their DMT counterparts.
Having entered the final in 4th place, Charlie slipped three places to end the competition in 7th.
Michael Barnes finished in 11th, with Damian 22nd and Greg 28th.
This left the team one place away from their goal in 4th place, behind Russia, China and Belarus.
T he ladies' tumbling team was also out to prove a point.
Sarah Turner flipped her way into 6th place – a place she retained in the final, Zoe McLean was 10th, with Laura Houson 22nd and Samantha Palmer 28th.
These performances saw the ladies win team bronze, behind Russia and the United States.
But not everyone was, however, happy with their performance.
Samantha Palmer said: "I did my7 job. It just wasn't our day. We can't have a good day every day".
On the whole, Team GB embraced the challenges in the tough competition with aplomb.
Head of the senior delegation Martin Laws said: "This was the strongest competition I have ever seen in all three disciplines.
"The British gymnasts stood up to the challenge and showed that we have a future in the sport.
"We are looking forward to that future."
The World Age Groups also had its share of ups and downs.
Laura Gallagher and Cara Jaimeson got junior team off to a flying start with a gold and silver in the age 17-18 girls individual competition.
Jamieson led the competition going into the final, with Gallagher in 4th.
But Gallagher pulled out all of the stops for her final routine and leapfrogged Jamieson win by 0.6.
Amy Sims came home in 12th, with Amanda Harris 18th.
Matthew Wright continued Team GB's excellent start to the competition by claiming a silver medal of his own in the equivalent boy's event.
Russia's Sergey Azaryan held off Wright to win gold, with Jack Helme in 19th.
The downside was an injury to Sophie Burr. Sophie broke her arm in training and was unable to compete.
Emma Scanlon was 14th in the 15-16 age group, with Emma Smith 20th, Gemma Proud 22nd and Claire Stapenhill 37th out of a field of 65.
Emma Britton, Zoe Brooks, Nicole Short and Sasha Carter enjoyed top 25 finishes, ending the age 13-14 competition in 6th, 11th, 15th and 23rd respectively.
Pamela Clark was 7th in the 11-12 competition, followed by Amy Morris and Natasha Short (11th and 12th respectively), and Lucy Alcock (28th).
In the age 15-16 event Scott Gregory finished in 11th. Nick Davies and Steven Williams weren't far behind, in 14th and 16th, with Daniel Greaves 22nd.
Britain's great tradition of winning medals in the synchro competitions looked to be taking a turn for the worst too.
Cara Jamieson and partner Rebecca Ogilvie executed a good routine but finished in 8th in the 17-18 age group, Jack Helme/Steven Williams were 14th in theirs, Natasha Short and Pamela Clark finished 18th (11-12 age group),
Ryan Stickland and Jason Ryall appeared to finish 4th in the age 11-12 synchro compettion.
But in a dramatic turn of events, Stickland and Ryall were elevated to 3rd, claiming Britain's first synchro medal of the competition.
A silver medal followed for Nicole Short/Emma Britton in the age 13-14 group, with Zoe Brookes/Sophie Singleton-Scott 8th.
Then came another silver medal for Luke Strong and Nathan Bailey in the age 13-14 competition. Stephen Page and Jordan George were 14th.
The tumblers were determined to show that they were not going to be outdone by the trampolinists.
Zara Mclean somersaulted her way to become World Champion in the age 17-18 ladies' competition.
Zara entered the final in 2nd place behind team-mate Jennifer Dawes but put in such a good final pass that she came out on top, with Jennifer slipping to 4th overall.
Danielle Bannan completed a top 10 finish for the British competitors by securing 10th place.
A similar situation arose for the age 13-14 girls.
Team GB won silver and bronze, but only after a tense final.
The final began with Megan Green in 2nd, trailed slightly by her team-mate Paige Clarke, who was in 3rd.
After some spectacular passes Megan dropped a place to 4th, with Paige retaining her 3rd place, despite earning the same score as 2nd-placed Aoife Kiely of Ireland.
Just 0.4 separated Paige and Megan.
Sharnah Evans was 15th and Louisa Bellis 28th.
In the 15-16 girls group Samantha Rockett suffered the same fate as Paige Clarke.
Samantha began the final and looked set to win the silver medal, until she was given the same score as Canada's Jordan Sugrim, who was awarded 2nd place.
Samantha received a well-deserved bronze medal.
Mica Parry-Clement came in 28th, with Racheal Letsche 35th.
Shaun Gregory was extremely unlucky in the 13-14 boys' competition.
Shaun was pipped to the bronze medal, by 0.3, by Aaron Cook of the USA.
Kristoff Willerton finished 7th, followed by Connor Maloney (9th) and Garrett Nixon (12th)
As the competitions grew in intensity, so did the performances of the gymnasts.
Peter Mewse led a top 20 finish for all of the men in the age 17-18 group.
Peter, who was 5th before the final, climbed up a place to finish the competition in 4th.
The three remaining Britons in the compettion - Josh Barringer, Lee Schofield and Stephen Newey –came home consecutively in 17th, 18th and 19th.
In the 15-16 boys' ervent Barry Leach broke into the top 10, finishing in 10th place. Daniel Knowles was 27th.
They may be small in the 11-12 age group – well some of them – but they definitely packed a punch.
Demi Watkins and Jordan Ramos seemed to be playing a game of copycat.
Both Demi and Jordan entered their finals in 5th place, but finished in 6th, with Demi just 0.1 behind Canada's Jaclyn Sicar.
Greg Townley and Hannah Saunders were both 9th in their respective competitions
Will Arter was 13th in his. Heather Cowell finished 16th, followed by Charlotte Caunt (17th) .
In the DMT competition, Oliver Rowlands won the only medal for Great Britain, a bronze in the age 11-12 group. In the girls competition, Sophia Beavan finished in 9th, Georgia Downing 22nd, with Naomi Warner 38th,
Other results included Kate Bramall finishing 8th in the age 17-18 competition, with Jennifer Bloodworth 19th.
The age 15-16 competition ended with Robyn Osborne in 16th for the girls, followed by Hanna Moses (24th) and Adeva Bryan (31st ).
The boys concluded their event in similar positions. Alex Foster was 20th, Michael Dodson 25th and Mark Pennell 30th.
In the 13-14 age group Kristoff Willerton was 10th, Nathan Bailey 13th, Luke Strong 17th and Mitchel Benham finished 18th.
Pl |
Federations |
Gold |
Silver |
Bronze |
Total |
1 |
RUSSIA |
9 |
9 |
8 |
26 |
2 |
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA |
7 |
5 |
5 |
17 |
3 |
JAPAN |
4 |
4 |
1 |
9 |
4 |
GREAT BRITAIN |
2 |
6 |
2 |
10 |
5 |
SPAIN |
2 |
3 |
|
5 |
6 |
CANADA |
2 |
2 |
3 |
7 |
7 |
FRANCE |
1 |
1 |
3 |
5 |
8 |
AUSTRALIA |
1 |
|
4 |
5 |
9 |
BELGIUM |
1 |
|
1 |
2 |
10 |
UKRAINE |
1 |
|
|
1 |
10 |
DENMARK |
1 |
|
|
1 |
10 |
KAZAKHSTAN |
1 |
|
|
1 |
13 |
BULGARIA |
|
1 |
1 |
2 |
14 |
BELARUS |
|
1 |
|
1 |
15 |
GERMANY |
|
|
1 |
1 |
15 |
IRLAND |
|
|
1 |
1 |
15 |
THE NETHERLANDS |
|
|
1 |
1 |
15 |
POLAND |
|
|
1 |
1 |