2012 Brno Grand Prix

I've always been a big fan of gymnastics.  Previously, I wrote about Czechoslovakia's most famous gymnast - Věra Čáslavská.  So how did I not know that this past Saturday there was going to be a pretty decent competition, here in Brno, less than a 5-minute walk from my flat.

The Brno Grand Prix is an annual mixed-pairs competition.  One male and one female gymnast pair up as a team.  They each compete on two events in the qualification round, one event in the semi-finals and then there is a four-team final round.

This was a world-class event with some athletes having competed in the 2012 Olympics.  Participating athletes represented Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Ukraine, Poland, Spain, Switzerland and the USA.  And the admission price was only 80 Kč ($4).  Again, how did I not know about this?  The Ukrainian team won the event followed in second by the Czech/Spanish team.  You can bet that I will be on the look out for this next year.

On YouTube I found the balance beam routine from Mariya Livchikova from Ukraine.

©ČT