 Dozens of Olympic hopefuls will get a final pre-Olympic push in back-to-back FIG Challenger events taking place this weekend and next. Pictured: Diana Bulimar hopes to impress in Ghent and join Romania's Olympic squad this summer.Dozens of Olympic hopefuls will get a final pre-London push in back-to-back FIG Challenger events taking place this weekend and next.
More than 300 gymnasts from 44 nations are on the combined rosters for the two events: the 45th Šalamunov Memorial, Friday through Sunday in Maribor, Slovenia; and the Ghent Challenger Cup, June 9-10 in the Belgian city.
The rosters includes several gymnasts who have already clinched spots for this summer's Olympic Games in London, including world champions Diego Hypolito (Brazil), Vlasios Maras (Greece) and Krisztian Berki (Hungary). Other notable Olympic qualifiers include Valeria Pereyra (Argentina), Arthur Zanetti (Brazil), Tomas Gonzalez (Chile), Yamilet Peña (Dominican Republic), Kieran Behan (Ireland), Valeria Maksyuta (Israel), Daniel Corral (Mexico), Marta Pihan-Kulesza and Roman Kulesza (Poland), Jonna Adlerteg (Sweden), Jessica Lopez (Venezuela) and Phan Thi Ha Thanh (Vietnam).
Other gymnasts on the rosters have Olympic aspirations but must still prove their worth to various coaches and selection committees. Diana Bulimar, Diana Chelaru, Raluca Haidu and Amelia Racea are all contenders for the yet-undecided Romanian women's team, a perennial medal favorite at the Olympic Games. Meanwhile, Daniel Keatings, Sam Oldham and Louis Smith are fiercely fighting for spots on Great Britain's men's squad to London, where the British will be a team medal contender for the first time in modern gymnastics history.
The competitions are the final stage in the drama that has embroiled Dutch gymnastics this year on the competition floor — and in the courtroom. According to the FIG qualification rules, Jeffrey Wammes and Epke Zonderland both scored enough at the pre-Olympic event to qualify to London as individuals. However, the Dutch team ranking means that only one of them will be allowed to compete at the Olympics. The women are in a similar situation, having earned one spot for any individual the federation wishes to send. The Royal Dutch Gymnastics Federation Zonderland announced in February that Zonderland and Wyomi Masela were to be its 2012 Olympians, a decision that spawned lawsuits from Wammes and women's national champion Céline van Gerner. The judges agreed with the gymnasts' position that the federation was too hasty in its selection and that the federation must take into account results from spring events, including the Challenger Cups in Maribor and Ghent, before making a final decision.
Part of the International Gymnastics Federation's World Cup series, the Challenger Cup features apparatus-only competition. Previous events were held in March in Cottbus and Doha, and in April in Osijek. The series concludes in Ostrava in November.
45th Šalamunov Memorial/FIG Challenger Cup
June 1-3, Maribor, Slovenia
| Women's Competitors |
| Camila Ambrosio |  |
| Merlina Galera | |
| Valeria Pereyra | |
| Ailen Valente | |
| Olga Mokhovtsova |  |
| Anastasia Marachovskaya | |
| Daiane dos Santos |  |
| Adrian Gomes | |
| Tina Erceg |  |
| Tijana Tkalcec | |
| Dorina Boczogo |  |
| Tunde Csillag | |
| Laura Gombas | |
| Nofar Cohen |  |
| Hadas Koren | |
| Valerija Grisane |  |
| Joy Goedkoop |  |
| Wyomi Masela | |
| Céline van Gerner | |
| Gabriela Janik |  |
| Katarzyna Jurkowska | |
| Marta Pihan-Kulesza | |
| Alexandra Choon |  |
| Zoi Mafalda Lima | |
| Ana Filipa Martins | |
| Rita Oliveira | |
| Aljazy Al-Habshi |  |
| Shaden Wohdan | |
| Daniela Andrei |  |
| Gabriela Dragoi | |
| Raluca Haidu | |
| Teja Belak |  |
| Saša Golob | |
| Ivana Kamnikar | |
| Adela Sajn | |
| Aleksandra Rajcic |  |
| Jelena Stamenkovic | |
| Ranin Abou Faraj |  |
| Yevgenia Cherniy |  |
| Alina Fomenko | |
| Angelina Kysla | |
| Daryna Liubytska | |
| Jessica Lopez |  |
|
|
| Men's Competitors |
| Andres Arean | |
| Nicolas Cordoba | |
| Osvaldo Martinez | |
| Juan Sebastian Melchiori | |
| Federico Molinari | |
| Matias Silva | |
| Christopher Martin |  |
| Prashanth Sellathurai | |
| Roland Auer |  |
| Matthias Decker | |
| Xheni Dyrmishi | |
| Julian Egermann | |
| Alexander Leidlmair | |
| Tomas Thys |  |
| Jimmy Verbaeys | |
| Pavel Bulavsky | |
| Artyom Bykov | |
| Diego Hypolito | |
| Sergio Sasaki | |
| Arthur Zanetti | |
| Nathan Gafuik |  |
| Kenneth Ikeda | |
| Kevin Lytwyn | |
| Brandon O'Neill | |
| Christian Bruno |  |
| Juan Francisco Raffo | |
| Filip Borosa | |
| Marko Brez | |
| Andrej Korosteljev | |
| Marijo Moznik | |
| Renato Prpic | |
| Kristijan Vugrinski | |
| Juho Kanerva |  |
| Petrus Laulumaa | |
| Jarkko Pekkanen | |
| Tomi Tuuha | |
| Reiss Beckford |  |
| Daniel Keatings | |
| Louis Smith | |
| Krisztian Berki | |
| Vid Hidvegi | |
| Luke Carson |  |
| Anthony O'Donnell | |
| Geoff Rellis | |
| Andrew Smith | |
| Adham Alsqour |  |
| Jad Mazahreh | |
| Fahad Al Ghannam |  |
| Jawad Alherz | |
| Mohammad Ali | |
| Faisal Alothman | |
| Ahmad Alqattan | |
| Vitalijs Kardasovs | |
| Dmitrijs Trefilovs | |
| Dino Boshnjak |  |
| Ivan Krstevski | |
| Arjen Butter | |
| Jorian Ilbrink | |
| Glenn Smink | |
| Jeffrey Wammes | |
| Epke Zonderland | |
| Sebastian Cecot | |
| Adam Kierzkowski | |
| Roman Kulesza | |
| Maciej Labutin | |
| Marek Lyszczarz | |
| Adam Rzepa | |
| Ahmed Aldayani | |
| Nasser Alhamad | |
| Mahmood Alsadi | |
| Malek Alyahri | |
| Saso Bertoncelj | |
| Alen Dimic | |
| Rok Klavora | |
| Aljaz Pegan | |
| Mitja Petkovsek | |
| Ziga Silc | |
| Martin Argalas |  |
| Slavomir Michnak | |
| Andrej Neczli | |
| Samuel Piasecky | |
| Suhail Alkurdi | |
| Amer Attar | |
| Fadi Bahlawan | |
| Feras Bahlawan | |
| Volodymyr Grybuk | |
| Maxim Semyankiv | |
| Andrei Sienichkin | |
| Alexander Suprun | |
| Alexander Vorobyov | |
|
2012 Ghent Challenger Cup
June 9-10, Ghent, Belgium
| Women's Competitors |
| Camila Ambrosio | |
| Merlina Galera | |
| Valeria Pereyra | |
| Ailen Valente | |
| Julie Croket | |
| Terri Grand'ry | |
| Gaelle Mys | |
| Lisa Verschueren | |
| Anastasia Marachkovskaya | |
| Olga Mokhovtsova | |
| Daniele Hypolito | |
| Bruna Leal | |
| Lais Souza | |
| Paraskevi Babalis | |
| Stefanie Merkle | |
| Sabrina Tomassini | |
| Barbara Achondo | |
| Melany Cabrera | |
| Martina Castro | |
| Andrea Olivares | |
| Tijana Tkalcec | |
| Kristyna Palesova |  |
| Jana Sikulova | |
| Yamilet Peña |  |
| Sherine El Zeiny |  |
| Salma Mahmoud El Said Mohamed | |
| Mari Anttila | |
| Maija Leinonen | |
| Vasiliki Millousi |  |
| Hadas Koren | |
| Valeria Maksyuta | |
| Olga Antipenko |  |
| Anna Geidt | |
| Alexa Moreno |  |
| Wyomi Masela | |
| Lisa Top | |
| Céline van Gerner | |
| Marta Pihan-Kulesza | |
| Alexandra Choon | |
| Zoi Lima | |
| Ana Filipa Martins | |
| Inês Romero | |
| Diana Bulimar | |
| Diana Chelaru | |
| Amelia Racea | |
| Teja Belak | |
| Saša Golob | |
| Fiona Novak | |
| Adela Sajn | |
| Jessica Diacci |  |
| Nadia Mülhauser | |
| Maria Homolova | |
| Jonna Adlerteg |  |
| Natalia Kononenko | |
| Maria Livchikova | |
| Krystyna Sankova | |
| Luiza Galiulina |  |
| Daria Yelizarova | |
| Jessica Lopez | |
| Ivet Rojas | |
| Do Thi Thu Huyen |  |
| Phan Thi Ha Thanh | |
|
|
| Men's Competitors |
| Andres Arean | |
| Nicolas Cordoba | |
| Osvaldo Martinez | |
| Juan Sebastian Melchiori | |
| Federico Molinari | |
| Matias Silva | |
| Christopher Martin | |
| Prashanth Sellathurai | |
| Marco Baldauf | |
| Fabian Leimlehner | |
| Thomas Neuteleers | |
| Kristof Schroe | |
| Tomas Thys | |
| Jonas Toeback | |
| Donna-Donny Truyens | |
| Jimmy Verbaeys | |
| Pavel Bulavsky | |
| Andrei Likhovitsky | |
| Alexander Tsarevich | |
| Francisco Barretto | |
| Diego Hypolito | |
| Sergio Sasaki | |
| Arthur Zanetti | |
| Mathieu Csukassy | |
| Jayd Lukenchuk | |
| Jackson Payne | |
| Tomas Gonzalez | |
| Cheng Ran |  |
| Du Wei | |
| Liao Junlin | |
| Liu Rongbing | |
| Luo Xuan | |
| Zhang Hongtao | |
| Marko Brez | |
| Tomislav Markovic | |
| Marijo Moznik | |
| Robert Seligman | |
| Filip Ude | |
| Martin Konecny | |
| Amr Essam Mohamed Ahmed | |
| Mohamed Sherif El Saharty | |
| Ali Ramadan Abuoelkassem Zahran | |
| Nestor Abad |  |
| Javier Gomez | |
| Fabian Gonzalez | |
| Rafael Martinez | |
| Eetu Lahti | |
| Jarkko Pekkanen | |
| Heikki Saarenketo | |
| Daniel Keatings | |
| Sam Oldham | |
| Eleftherios Kosmidis | |
| Vlasios Maras | |
| Eleftherios Petrounias | |
| Krisztian Berki | |
| Vid Hidvegi | |
| Hadi Khenarinezhad |  |
| Mohammad Ramezanpour | |
| Younes Zeyghami | |
| Kieran Behan | |
| Luke Carson | |
| Anthony O'Donnell | |
| Andrew Smith | |
| Shun Kuwahara |  |
| Masayoshi Yamamoto | |
| Masahiro Yoshida | |
| Viktor Kocherin | |
| Ilya Kornev | |
| Nurtas Kozhakov | |
| Azizbek Kudratullayev | |
| Stanislav Valiyev | |
| Rokas Guscinas |  |
| Daniel Corral | |
| Asiel Lopez | |
| Luis Sosa | |
| Yuri van Gelder | |
| Jeffrey Wammes | |
| Epke Zonderland | |
| Adam Kierzkowski | |
| Roman Kulesza | |
| Maciej Labutin | |
| Adam Rzepa | |
| Adrian Bucur | |
| Andrei V. Muntean | |
| Andrei Muntean | |
| Andrei Ursache | |
| Saso Bertoncelj | |
| Ziga Britovsek | |
| Alen Dimic | |
| Rok Klavora | |
| Mitja Petkovsek | |
| Ziga Silc | |
| Pascal Bucher | |
| Claudio Capelli | |
| Oliver Hegi | |
| Kevin Rossi | |
| Slavomir Michnak | |
| Samuel Piasecky | |
| Wajdi Bouallegue |  |
| Maxim Semiankiv | |
| Andrei Sienichkin | |
| Alexander Suprun | |
| Alexander Vorobyov | |
| Anton Fokin | |
| Carlos Carbonell | |
| Dang Nam | |
| Ha Thanh Nguyen | |
| Hoang Cuong | |
| Nguyen Tuan Dat | |
| Phuoc Hung Pham | |
|
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