Zonderland and Kroonen, Gymnasts of the
Year
22 January 2010, 6:57
Last December, just before the Univé Gym Gala in Rotterdam, the official
promotional poster
of the 2010 Artistic Gymnastics World Championships was presented to the public.
One of the two action shots on the poster depicts the man who won
the silver medal on high bar at the London Worlds. The other photo shows the
young lady who represented the Netherlands in the women’s all-around final at
the 2009 Worlds. Their names? Epke Zonderland and Mayra Kroonen, respectively.
But there was more to follow for Zonderland and Kroonen. As if featuring
prominently on the World Championships’ promotional poster wasn’t enough of an honour, the two gymnasts
were recently named the Royal Dutch Gymnastics
Federation’s Athletes of the Year 2009, each having received the greatest number
of votes in their respective categories at the Federation’s New Year’s Meeting.
Zonderland held off fellow nominees Jeffrey Wammes and trampolinist Fernando
Götschin to win his second consecutive Male Gymnast of the Year award. For her
part, first-time winner Kroonen beat defending Female Gymnast of the Year Sanne
Wevers and new senior Wyomi Masela to the title.
Fifteen-year-old Celine van Gerner was named Up-and-Coming Talent of the Year
2009, having won the national junior title and obtained remarkably good results
at the European Youth Olympic Festival in Tampere, Finland. With her Tampere
teammates Naoual Ouazzani Chahdi and Lisa van den Burg, Van Gerner also won the
Team of the Year award.
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