European Championships: gymnasts after EM bronze in emotional ups and downs

Away from the limelight, the tears of joy gave way to those of melancholy for the German gymnasts.

The happiness and pride of winning bronze for the first team at a European Championship was contrasted with the pain of parting in the underground passages of the Munich Olympic Hall, which Kim Bui’s career end triggered. “I don’t even want to think about what it’s like without Kimi,” said her teammate and best friend Elisabeth Seitz, spontaneously bursting into tears and hugging her.

Kim Bui, 33, also used a handkerchief to dry the tears that were rolling down her cheeks. During the competition, she was still holding back her feelings when the announcer announced her final floor routine. “Until then I was so focused. The task was to be focused for the team. I was in the tunnel there,” said the Stuttgart native.

Together with the German record champion Seitz, Emma Malewski and Pauline Schäfer-Betz as well as Sarah Voss (Cologne), Kim Bui had previously created a novelty: For the first time, a German women’s squad won an all-around medal at a European Championship. “It’s one of the best feelings right now to know that we’ve achieved this together as such a great team. We carried ourselves through this competition together,” said Bui. With 158.430 points in the four-way battle, the DTB squad was only beaten by Italy (165.163) and Great Britain (161.164).

No time to enjoy

The German quartet didn’t have much time to enjoy the coup. With the medals around their necks, they had to go straight to the podium training for the apparatus finals at the end of the women’s competitions on Sunday. Bui and Seitz had qualified for the final battle of the top eight on the uneven bars, Malewski and Schäfer-Betz for the final on the balance beam. “I’m not expecting anything, I don’t want to put any pressure on,” said national coach Gerben Wiersma.

From the quintet of the German Gymnastics Federation (DTB), only Sarah Voss missed an apparatus final. The woman from Cologne, handicapped by an injury in her right calf, shone in the all-around team competition. On the last apparatus, the vault, she was the last to compete and knew that the medal depended on her score. In contrast to the qualification, she dared a more difficult jump. “Our national coach decided: All in. I said: All in, all right. We can do that,” said the 22-year-old.

When she then set her jump perfectly, all the dams broke. The German all-around champion cried out her joy on the podium, her teammates hugged each other with tears in their eyes. “I think you looked at it, I felt everything at once: it was relief, it was joy, it was excitement, it was everything. From the first step to landing I felt like my team was screaming through me , floats over the table. It was such a special moment, it was all the feelings you can have, “said Voss about her emotional outburst.

Not free from mistakes, but with strong nerves and with the much-vaunted team spirit, the German team made their way through the team final. “Everyone knew that the team gave us a stronger back. That was the deciding factor today,” said Schäfer-Betz. When the coup was accomplished, the overjoyed gymnasts with the German flag over their shoulders climbed the run-up track again to jump, encouraged the enthusiastic fans to La Ola and were celebrated on the lap of honor with standing ovations. “It was incredible to do gymnastics here today. You could tell that the hall was shaking,” said Schäfer-Betz.