Welcome to the slightly chillier Liverpool and the M and S Bank Arena, where the gymnastic world championships are hosted this year. While it may be dark outside, the arena is the complete opposite! Wherever you look inside, there are colourful filled lights and lively music to wave the miniature British flags in support to. An electric buzz is hanging through the audience of over 5000, 25 of which include Surbiton High School gymnasts who have been lucky enough to spend a 2 night trip watching the artistic gymnasts perform to their best abilities! The 1st of November was dedicated to the final 8 countries that succeeded in qualifying for the finals. Competition was held in women’s teams of around 5 or 6 competitors and a total group score was totalled up at the end. Medals were up for grabs and it was all to play for!

 

Artistic gymnastics includes a rota of 4 apparatus, with 2 teams each taking it in turns on one piece of equipment each. Great Britain and the United States of America started on vault, others included Japan, The Republic of China, Italy, France, Brazil and Canada. A rotation occurs after every gymnast from the team has received their scores, and by the end of the night all teams will have had a go on all 4 pieces of equipment: Bars, beam, floor and vault. 

 

All 4 require 1-1:30 minute long routines performed on each set of equipment. Bars are two bars placed up above the ground. One is lower, the other high. Gymnasts flip, rotate, and switch from one bar to the next. Vault consists of a 25 metre run up to a vault (think small circular part cut out of mattress and slanted at an angle) where gymnasts jump off a spring board and flip over. Beam is a narrow beam raised above the ground which is only 10cm in width! Certain skills are risky here as you can imagine it’s very easy to fall off! And floor is a routine on a spring floor too a chosen piece of music to showcase a gymnasts skills.  To gain points, it requires precision from start to finish, difficulty rating, technique, landings and so many more categories! Therefore, It can be quite easy to deduct points if these categories are not met. 

 

Due to being such high stakes, you can imagine how few mistakes were made. While there may have been some, the resilience expressed from each individual athlete to carry on was inspiring, and it was clear that all teammates were supportive of one another. This may have been one of the reasons behind GB’s dominance throughout the competition, our girls came home with a silver medal and lots of applause from the audience! This is a remarkable achievement for team GB gymnastics with their second team medal in a world championship! They shared a podium along with Canada in third place (which ended up being their first championship win) and the USA in 1st. 

 

Interesting fact: the USA women’s gymnastics team now hold a record for the amount of consecutive world championship wins. Not 1…or 5… but 6 in a row! How insanely awesome is that!!!

 

It could easily be said that every team that performed deserved the win as much as another. After training for hours on end, each woman showed passion for their sport and team with an all round incredible performance from each competitor. Great Britain finished with a brilliant last floor routine which helped them gain the final push to their well deserved victory. And after many happy tears, the crowd gave them a send off to the song ‘Sweet Caroline’ - the nations favourite!!