Worlds Competition No. 4

It’s time for our monthly contest! Test your knowledge of gymnastics, submit the right answer to our question and win yourself a nice prize that will have you fully prepared for the 2010 Worlds. Two lucky winners will win our special promotional kit, containing a T-shirt with the Royal Dutch Gymnastics Federation’s mascot, Gymmie; a Royal Dutch Gymnastics Federation rucksack; a fan scarf; and a Worlds sticker. Twenty-five other lucky winners will receive the fan scarf and the sticker. Now that’s a way to get ready for the 2010 Worlds!
 

The Heroes of 1987

As many of you will be aware, 2010 marks the second time Rotterdam is hosting the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships. The city also hosted the 1987 Worlds, a memorable gymnastics event if ever there was one. At the time, Europe was still divided by the ‘Iron Curtain’ that separated East and West. In a legendary women’s team final, Romania defeated the then-invincible Soviet Union by 0.45. Another Eastern European nation, East Germany, placed a distant third. Both Romania and the Soviet Union had fabulous line-ups that year. The Romanian team, for instance, boasted the European all-round champion of that year, Daniela Silivaş, who had also won three out of four event finals at the Moscow event. However, the odds-on favourite for the all-round gold couldn’t quite live up to expectations in Rotterdam, placing third in the all-round competition and winning ‘just’ two gold medals in the event finals, both of which she had to share -- with East Germany’s Dörte Thümmler (bars) and Soviet star Elena Shushunova (floor), respectively.

In the men’s competition, the Soviet Union was in a league of its own, beating China by a landslide (6.4 points). However, China did not leave Rotterdam empty-handed, winning some well-deserved gold medals in the event finals. East Germany once again finished third. In the all-round final, the Soviet men dominated, winning all three medals. However, they couldn’t quite repeat that feat in the event finals, where they ‘only’ won seven out of eighteen medals -- three golds, three silvers and a bronze. China and East Germany picked up a few medals of their own, as did Hungary, Bulgaria and even Canada.

So now for our question...

Which two athletes won the most individual medals at the 1987 Rotterdam World Championships?

A. Li Ning and Daniela Silivaş
B. Sven Tippelt and Aurelia Dobre
C. Dimitri Bilozerchev and Elena Shushunova
D. Valeri Liukin and Ecaterina Szabo

E-mail the correct answer, your name and your address to prijsvraag@WKturnen2010.nl, entering ‘prijsvraag’ in the subject line. Please submit your answer by 31st March 2010. If you submit more than one e-mail, the answer given in your first e-mail will be the one that counts. Prize winners will be announced on this site. Judges’ decisions are final.