Category: European Championships

1969: Mikhail Voronin Retains His Title at the Men’s European Championships

Post author By Gymnastics History
Post date August 30, 2022
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On May 24 and 25, 1969, just months after the Olympic Games, the top male gymnasts in Europe gathered in Warsaw for the European Championships. As expected, the Soviet gymnasts dominated the meet.

In 1969, the rules for the European Championships changed. Each country could send three gymnasts instead of two. (Meanwhile, in women’s artistic gymnastics, countries continued to send only two gymnasts to the European Championships.) But the Soviet gymnasts were unable to sweep the all-around podium because Lisitsky had a major break on pommel horse.

Let’s take a look at what happened…

1969 European Championships WAG

1969: Karin Janz Dominates at the Women’s European Championships

Post author By Gymnastics History
Post date August 29, 2022
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Gymnasts from nineteen countries traveled to Landskrona, Sweden to participate in the European Championships on Saturday, May 16, 1969 and Sunday, May 17, 1969.

The stars of the 1968 Olympics — Čáslavská, Petrik, Voronina, Kuchinskaya — did not attend (or had retired), which gave 17-year-old Karin Janz a chance to shine and win four of the five gold medals.

Datum: 23.05.1969 Copyright: imago/Werner Schulze Karin Janz (DDR) während des Trainings; Quadrat, Geräteturnen 1969, Kunstturnen

European Championships MAG Olympics Perfect 10 WAG World Championships

The Perfect Scores before Nadia Comăneci and Nellie Kim

Post author By Gymnastics History
Post date May 19, 2022
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Before Nadia Comăneci’s and Nellie Kim’s perfect 10s at the 1976 Olympic Games, there was a long line of gymnasts who obtained perfect scores at the Olympic Games, the World Championships, or the European Championships. (Originally, the World Championships were called the International Tournament.)

Some of them even managed perfect totals, meaning that they received the maximum score for their compulsory and optional routines combined.

So, here’s a chronological list of the gymnasts who were “perfect” before Comăneci and Kim.

Kunstturn-WM in Basel 1950: Barren-Sieger Hans Eugster (Photo by RDB/ullstein bild via Getty Images)

1967 European Championships

1967: Karin Janz’s International Debut at the European Championships

Post author By Gymnastics History
Post date September 16, 2021
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Věra Čáslavská’s performance was the big news out of Amsterdam in 1967. But it wasn’t the only story.

15-year-old Karin Janz had an incredible international debut. In fact, she was just hundredths away from stopping Čáslavská’s gold medal sweep at the 1967 European Championships.

Let’s take a quick look at her performance…

Karin Janz (East Germany), 1967 European Championships

1967 European Championships Perfect 10

1967: Čáslavská’s 10.0s at the Women’s European Championships

Post author By Gymnastics History
Post date September 14, 2021
1 Comment on 1967: Čáslavská’s 10.0s at the Women’s European Championships

The 1967 WAG European Championships are a crucial moment in the history of artistic gymnastics. Let’s take a look at why this competition matters…