The world of gymnastics is in the starting block. A total of 76 countries with over 500 gymnasts will compete for medals at the 48th World Championships, which will be held in Doha (October, 25 – November, 3, 2018). The capital of Qatar is set to host the first ever Worlds in the Arab region, and at same time this will be the third Asian country to host the World Gymnastics Championships, after Japan (1995 & 2011) and China (1999 & 2014).

PASSION FOR SPORTS. H.E. Sheikh Joaan Bin Hamad Al Thani, President of 48th Artistic Gymnastics World Championships and Doha 2018 Local Organizing Committee said: “Qatar is a nation passionate about sports. We believe in the importance of sports and its power to touch every area of our nation’s development… Hosting the World Championships in Doha, and for the first time in the Middle East, provides an opportunity to showcase gymnastics to new audiences and new markets capture the attention of new fans inspire new gymnasts and contribute to the growth and development of the sport across our region.”

In turn, the President of the FIG, Morinari Watanabe from Japan, who was elected and sworn in as new IOC Member at the beginning of October, during the 133rd Session of the International Olympic Committee, declared: “We look to the 2018 Worlds in Doha, where our Artistic gymnasts will set out on the road to Tokyo 2020. They will step into the world spotlight and make history, as Qatar joins the list of countries to have hosted this prestigious event. We are convinced that the unique Aspire Dome will be a fitting stage for our stars…”

DOHA, A STARTING POINT. For all gymnasts who dream to become Olympians, Doha represents first steps towards  fulfilling it. But, the road to the 2020 Olympics is now more difficult and more complicated than ever, with the new qualification system being a more dense mesh. These World Championships will represent the first Olympic Qualification for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo (JPN). They will serve to qualify the best three teams from the Team Final. In addition, the men’s and women’s team medalists will qualify a four-member team to Tokyo. The rest of the qualifiers will be determined at next year’s World Championships and through World Cup and Continental Championship competitions that end in early 2020. “Part of the reason for the change in the 2020 Olympic Qualification is to increase visibility and marketability of the sport. This is the first time the Olympic qualification will start almost two years before the Games. The 2018 World Championships will be a major television event with qualification through the Team Finals. This would be less attractive for television if Qualifications were used and the best teams were spread between multiple subdivisions” is FIG’s point of view.

If we look back a little, we see that: at the World Championships Glasgow 2015 (the last edition before the team format was changed), on the women’s podium were USA, China and Great Britain and for the men: Japan, Great Britain and China. At the Olympic Games in Rio, first three was USA, Russia and China (women) and Japan, Russia, China (men), while at the last European Championships – Glasgow 2018 Russia, France and Netherlands were medalists in the women’s competition while Russia, Great Britain and France won it for the men. If we consider this and the last 2018 competitions, it seems, values in dispute for first places have remained about the same. “The return of the team competition – which was not held at the 2017 World Championships in Montreal (CAN) – will see a renewal of rivalries from Rio 2016, leading to an even more thrilling showdown in the finals”, experts said.

KOHEI UCHIMURA – A STAR AMONG STARS. The Aspire Dome will welcome more 500 gymnasts from 76 countries, big names, who want to resolve everything now, and many new names (many), for which Doha is the first great test for world and Olympic consecration. Olympic champion Kohei Uchimura (JPN) suffered an ankle injury last weeks, but exuded confidence that he will compete in Doha. Uchimura became the first gymnast (male or female) to win every major all-around title in an entire single Olympic cycle, accomplishing this feat twice by winning six world titles (2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014 and 2015) and two individual All-Around titles at the 2012 London and 2016 Rio Olympics respectively. In the fight for supremacy in the team there are high class gymnasts: Yusuke Tanaka, Wataru Tanigawa, Kenzo Shirai, Kazuma Kaya (all medals at W.Ch and OG), Kaker Tanigawa (the new Japanese champion). China, who topped medals tally at last year’s edition in Montreal, is aiming for a top-three team finish. The Chinese men’s squad comprises Olympic team bronze medalists Lin Chaopan, Deng Shudi and You Hao, defending world All-around champion Xiao Ruoteng, 2017 parallel bar champion Zou Jingyuan and Sun Wei. Ukraine are coming to Doha with Igor Radivilov; the Russians with their star David Belyavskiy, also looking to challenge perennial favourites Japan and China after an impressive showing at the European Championships. But there are also the double Olympic champion Max Whitlock who looks to lead Great Britain to another team world medal; 2016 Olympic champion in parallel bars Oleg Verniaiev (UKR), keen to return to action after a long injury layoff; battling a shoulder injury, Eleftherios Petrounias, the two-time defending world champion, three days after he announced that he would not be able to compete because of upcoming surgery, changed his mind and decided he would compete in Doha; Olympics gold medalist Arthur Zanetti (BRA); Epke Zonderland (NED) – known for his high-flying releases and combinations on Horizontal Bar, the 2012 Olympic champion, 2013 and 2014 World champion and three-time (2009, 2010, 2017) World championships silver medallist; championships medals, Ri Se Gwang (PRK) or Marian Dragulescu (ROU) – winner of eight world titles at37-year-old – these are just some of the world and Olympic champions going for more gold in Doha. And there’s more…

According to the draw for men’s qualification, upcoming Olympic host Japan – the reigning World and Olympic champions – will begin on Still Rings in Subdivision 6, where they will compete with medal contenders from the United States, who will begin on the Vault. Russia, the 2016 Olympic silver medalists and recent European champions, will compete in Subdivision 1 alongside 2024 Olympic host France. Great Britain, the reigning World Championships silver medalists from Glasgow 2015, will begin with the Floor Exercise in Subdivision 9, to be followed by reigning World and Olympic bronze medalists China, who begin on Vault in Subdivision 10.

• Entry Gymnast List by NOC * Entry Gymnast List by Bib Number * Number of Entries by NOC * MAG-Judges.pdf

ROMANIAN TEAM. Our men team, led by former great champion Marius Urzica (between Stefan Gal and Vasile Vug), has a difficult task, given the problems they face. However, Marian Dragulescu (37), Andrei Muntean, Cristian Bataga, Robert Ghiuzan, Rafael Szabo, Adelin Kotrong are optimistic to qualify in the top 24, which provides for reconsideration future position and work for a second chance for Olympic qualification.

At Doha, Marian Dragulescu was interviewed by the organizers. Here’s the article: “DOHA: Winner of eight world titles, 37-year-old Romanian gymnast Marian Dragulescu recently conquered his most daunting challenge – on the operating table, not the usual vaulting table. Dragulescu, who underwent a successful cardiac ablation procedure in May to reduce his abnormally fast heart rate, has not missed a beat in his speedy return to top form. “They removed some electric points which trigger the heart to beat more than regular,” Dragulescu told www.worldgymdoha18.com after Sunday’s podium training, in preparation for the 48th FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships that will begin October 25. “I had one month of recovery and since then it’s like before. I have no problems. My stamina is the same as always.” Dragulescu’s sense of humour is intact, as well. “Now I have harder problems, like with both of my Achilles tendons, my knees, my hand, my back, everything,” he joked. Dragulescu said he is flattered and often amazed by younger gymnasts who successfully perform his namesake vault, “The Dragulescu,” which consists of a handspring onto the vaulting table followed by a double front somersault with a half twist. He plans to perform his signature skill as part of his quest to win another world vault medal. “I’ve seen a lot of gymnasts do it very well, and sometimes it’s hard for me to do this vault,” he said. “I’m getting old and some of the gymnasts do it better than I do, but you cannot stop age.” The self-effacing Dragulescu said that, despite his seniority among his vault rivals, he still sometimes manages to perform the vault better than they do. “If I catch a full moon, and the universe, stars and the planets align, I can,” he said.

SIMONE BILES – IS BACK! Excellent news – Simone Biles (21) is back and expected to challenge for her fourth all-around title and lead the US to its fourth consecutive world team title. Biles’ return to the World stage comes amid a backdrop of continued chaos within USA Gymnastics as it struggles to find its footing in the wake of the Larry Nassar sexual abuse scandal. “Five years after her first World title, the Olympic champion aims to recapture her crown at the World Championships and do what no female gymnast has ever done – win a fourth World Championships All-around title. If Biles can continue her consistency in Doha, she has a realistic chance to medal in all six events. The last time a male or female gymnast medaled in all events at the World Championships or Olympic Games was three decades ago, when Daniela Silivaș (ROU) won six of six medals at the Olympics in Seoul (KOR). Simone sent a powerful message, through her victory in sport but also through the symbolism of her leotard. The costume was Simone’s own design in aqua blue with teal highlights, a message support and solidarity with the survivors of the sexual abuse scandal that has shaken the gymnastics community and USA gymnastics since 2016”, commentators have noted. But Simone is not alone, she has the support of talented gymnasts. They have a great rival in China who has the 2018 Asian Games All-around champion Chen Yile, Luo Huan, Du Siyu, Zhang Jin, Liu Jinru and Liu Tingting. In the same time, reigning All-round silver medalist Ellie Black will hope to cash in on her excellent form when she leads the Canadian women’s team. Brooklyn Moors Ana Padurariu, Shallon Olsen and Laurie Dénommée are the other members in the squad. At the 2015 Worlds in Glasgow, the British women won bronze in the team final. Becky Downie, Ellie Downie, Alice Kinsella and Kelly Simm have also been named to the British team. More, on the women’s side, the ageless Oksana Chusovitina (43) – Barcelona 1992 Olympic champion will compete in her 16th World Championships – continued to impress, while Belgium’s Nina Derwael and France’s Melanie De Jesus Dos Santos twice stood on the podium. Favorites list can continue with Axelle Klinckaert (BEL), Elisa Meneghini (ITA), Mai Murakami (JPN) and Kim Su Jong (DRP Korea) or Sanne Wevers (NED). Russia’s Aliya Mustafina, who has won back-to-back Olympic titles on the uneven bars, returns to the world stage after giving birth in 2017.

ROMANIAN TEAM.  Romanian gymnastics has not yet exceeded its crisis, and this is evident in the women team. Denisa Golgotă, Ioana Crişan, Carmen Ghiciuc, Laura Iacob, Nica Ivănuş, Maria Holbură (coach Nicolae Forminte, Liliana Cosma and Florin Cotuţiu) have a very difficult task in defending our honor gymnastics, years ago the number one favorite to the gold medal! Coach Nicolae Forminte: “It will be hard to overcome the difference, we have to put armor on us because now, what we have available, it is unlikely to have a satisfactory development for the public opinion of team competition. Around of Denisa Golgota, we can build a team to qualify for Tokyo. If we manage to achieve this qualification, the story will be different color Tokyo”

Entry Gymnast List by Bib * Entry Gymnast List by NOC * Number of Entries by NOC * WAG Judges

In the women’s qualification, the reigning World and Olympic champions from the United States will begin on uneven bars in Subdivision 5. Russia, the 2016 Olympic runner-up and recent European champions, will begin on floor in Subdivision 9. China, the defending team silver medalist from Glasgow 2015, starts on floor in Subdivision 7; and Olympic host Japan begins on the vault in Subdivision 2.

THE NEW GENERATION. Several young medal contenders are eyeing record results for their nations. Rhys McClenaghan (IRL) dethroned world and Olympic Pommel Horse champion Max Whitlock at this year’s Commonwealth Games and European Championships and is riding incredible momentum to Doha, where he could become the first Irish gymnast in history to win a World Championships medal. Asian Games vault champion Yeo Seojeong, the 16-year-old daughter of world and Olympic vault medallist Yeo Hong-chul, could follow in her famous father’s onto the World podium, as the first female gymnast from the Republic of Korea to do so.

ALL IN ONE CONCEPT – The Aspire Zone, also known as Doha Sport City, is a 250 hectare (2.5 square kilometers) sporting complex located in the Al Waab district of Doha, Qatar. The ultra-modern sports facility previously hosted the 2006 Asian Games, 2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships, 2011 Arab Games and the annual FIG Artistic World Cup Series since 2008. „The competition will be first qualification event for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. It will also the world’s biggest gymnastics event and Aspire Dome was the logical pick as a host venue for an event of such magnitude,” said Deputy Competition Manager Anis Saoud.

STRONG MEDIA COVERAGE. As always, gymnastics is in the spotlight worldwide. For FIG, media is an extremely important part of its activity as gymnastics having a huge worldwide audience and wide possibilities for marketing, and the press is one of the engines. The Aspire Dome will host 542 press representatives from around the world (written press, web editor – 115, photographer – 73, TV & Radio team – 354). In terms of broadcasters, 26 TV channels from Europe (15), America (6), Asia (4), Australia (1) will ensure transmissions in 65 countries. But the “media package” is much broader, with organizers doing their best to ensure that all boxes are ticked.

For this event FIG ensure a large media platform by the
FIG website (https://live.fig-gymnastics.com/news.php?idevent=13335),
FIG Social Media (https://www.facebook.com/fig.gym; https://twitter.com/gymnastics;http://www.youtube.com/user/figchannel;https://instagram.com/figymnastics); FIG mobile App https://itunes.apple.com/de/app/figymnastics/id1128817118?l=en&m);
FIG official website (http://www.gymnastics.sport/site/news/displaynews.php?idNews=2) LOC official website (http://worldgymdoha18.com/media.aspx).

Competition schedule:

So therefore, world of gymnastics is in block start. Everyone is ready. In 25^th October, at the 8.30 (local time) show can begin…