The 2011 World Gymnastics Championships are quickly approaching! The top 8 teams in the Tokyo qualification rounds will not only advance to the 2011 Team Final a few days later, but will also qualify a full team to the London Olympics in 2012. The teams who finish 8th-16th will get a second and final opportunity to advance to London in January of 2012. Here is a preview of the 2011 men's World teams who are on the bubble of the top 8. 


Romania

The Romanian men's team for 2011 is: Cristian Ioan Bataga, Marius Berbecar, Adrian Bucur, Ovidiu Buidoso, Vlad Bogdan Cotuna, and Flavius Koczi. Currently listed as alternate is Andrei Muntean, however once October 1st hits they can officially add veteran Marian Dragulescu to the roster and one of the above gymnasts will be demoted to alternate. Dragulescu made his comeback official just in time to be eligible for Worlds in compliance with international drug testing rules. 

 

The Romanian men finished 9th last year with mistakes on high bar. The team is fun to watch on floor and vault anchored by powerhouses Koczi and Dragulescu. 

 

24-year-old Flavius Koczi is expected to lead the team in Tokyo. He is a very strong all around gymnast and won the Romanian National title for the 3rd time in September with an impressive 90.10 all around score, nearly 4 points ahead of his countrymen. He is coming in to Tokyo as the reigning European Floor Champion, European All Around silver medalist, and was the 2009 World vault silver medalist. And unlike most power gymnasts, Koczi is also excellent on pommel horse. He is a former European Champion on the event and lately competed a D score of 6.40. Lastly, don't miss Marius Berbecar on parallel bars. He is capable of a 16.50 start score with clean execution. 

 

Romanian Team Facts:

- Marian Dragulescu comes into Tokyo with an amazing 8 World titles dating all the way back to 2001 when he captured the floor and vault gold medals. Dragulescu has come out of "retirement" twice now. 

- The Romanian men earned no medals at the 2010 World Championships.

- The Romanian Men last medaled in a World or Olympic Games in 2004 when the won the team bronze in Athens.

- Marian Dragulescu has a vault named for him which you will see many of the top guys competing in Tokyo. It is a handspring double front with a half twist out.
 

Dragulescu sticking his Dragulescu vault at last month's Romanian Championships:

 

Korea

Korea has selected: Ga Ram Bae, Jin Sung Choi, Jihoon Kim, Soo Myun Kim, Seungil Kim, Hak Seon Yang, and Changju Ha was named alternate. 

 

I'll be honest. I know very little about the Korean men's team. However, I do remember being very impressed with them in the qualification competition at last year's World Championships, and was absolutely blown away by their power on vault. 
 

The Korean men qualified into the 2010 World team finals in the 7th place position and fell back to 8th in the Team Finals. This year, they are competing without one of their top all arounders Yoo Won Chul who finished 5th on Rings in 2010. With a stronger Romanian team and other teams pushing for those last few qualifying spots, the Koreans may get the boot. 

 

Korean Team Facts:

- Hak Seon Yang received the highest score during the 2010 World Men's Team final, a mind blowing 16.666 on vault (video here)

- Soo Myun Kim finished 12th place all around at the 2010 World Championships.

Hak Seon Yang will contend for the 2011 World Vault title with these vaults:

 

Italy

The Italian men's team is: Matteo Angioletti, Alberto Busnari, Andrea Cingolani, Matteo Morandi, Paolo Ottavi, Enrico Pozzo, and the alternate is Lorenzo Ticchi. 

 

They placed 10th at last year’s World Championships. They had an overall underwhelming performance and the only medal Italy won in Rotterdam was a bronze on still rings from Matteo Morandi. At this year’s European Championships, Enrico Pozzo placed 22nd in the all around and 4th on still rings with a 15.650 (0.075 outside of bronze) and was a member of the 2010 World team. Alberto Busnari placed 7th on pommel horse. To move into the top eight, they will need to be cleaner on pommel horse and have nice landings. 
 

Italian Team Facts:  

- Enrico Pozzo placed 19th in the all around at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. 

- Matteo Morandi has 4 World Bronze medals on still rings. He placed 6th on rings at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. 

- The Italian men have qualified a team to the last two Olympic Games, finishing 12th place in each. 

- Alberto Busnari is a 3-time Olympian. 

 

 

Spain 

The 2011 Spanish team is made up of Isaac Botella Perez, Javier Gomez Fuertes, Fabian Gonzalez, Rafael Martinez, Sergio Munoz, Ivan San Miguel, and Ruben Lopez is the alternate. 

 

Spain placed 11th last year in the team final. Rafael Martinez and Sergio Munoz placed 7th and 21st in the all around at this year’s European Championships. They each scored one 15 but the rest of their scores were 14s and 13s. Fabian Gonzalez placed 8th on high bar with a 13.225. If the team can get their 13s into to 14 range, they have a good chance of placing top 8. 
 

Spanish Team Facts:

- Rafael Martinez placed 10th in the all around at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. 

 

 

Puerto Rico

They will be sending Rafael Morales-Casado, Tommy Ramos, Angel Ramos Rivera, Luis Rivera, Alexander Rodriguez, Luis Vargas Velazquez, and Alexis Torres is the alternate. 
 

Puerto Rico finished 12th in last year's World Championships. This is an experienced group of guys and an exciting team to watch, especially on the power events. However, their highest scoring events at last year's Worlds were pommel horse and still rings where they finished 8th overall. If they can clean up floor and parallel bars where they had some errors last year, they have a shot at the top 8. 
 

Puerto Rican Team Facts:

- Tommy Ramos competed for the Penn State University men's team from 2005 - 2007 and earned All-American honors on rings, parallel bars, and high bar. 
- Luis Rivera finished 6th place on vault at the 2010 World Championships, cleanly executing two 6.60 start value vaults. 
- Luis Rivera and Luis Vargas Velazquez both qualified to the 2010 World All Around Finals.

- Puerto Rico did not qualify a full women's team. The Olympic hopes for their country rests solely on these men.

 

2 More Teams to Watch:

 

Ukraine 

The Ukrainians named Mykola Kuksenkov, Vitalii Nakonechnyi, Igor Radivilov, Oleg Stepko, Oleg Verniaiev, Roman Zozulya, and Petro Pakhnyuk as the alternate. 

 

Ukraine finished 13th last year led by all arounder Mykola Kuksenkov who is coming off of a great year: 2011 World University Games Champion, 2nd at the American Cup, and 3rd all around at the European Championships. Kuksenkov just missed medaling in last year's World All Around final, finishing 4th in Rotterdam. Oleg Stepko has a unique style to his gymnastics and is competing in his first World Championships. The youngster is the 2010 Youth Olympic Games parallel bars champion and all around silver medalist. 

 

Ukrainian Team Facts:

- Kuksenkov is a good gymnast across the board. He's known to place well in the all around but has never been dominant in one certain event. 

- The team has gymnasts ranging from age 17 (Stepko) to 32 (Zozulya)

 

Brazil

The Brazilians will be sending Petrix Stevan Aguiar Barbosa, Francisco Carlos Barretto Junior, Mosiah Brentano Rodrigues, Pericles Fouro da Silva, Diego Hypolito, Arthur Nabarrete Zanetti, and Sergio Sasaki. One of these guys will be named alternate before the competition. 
 

Brazil placed 19th at last year’s Worlds and did not qualify any gymnasts to the all around or event finals. It is like a long shot for team finals qualification, but they have some standouts who are fun to watch in Diego Hypolito and Sergio Sasaki. Hypolito is a floor exercise specialist and is very good on vault. Hypolito can perform a round off half on double twist on vault. Sergio Sasaki is working on a new skill on parallel bars and could have it named after him if he performs it in Tokyo. Sasaki is also very good on vault and can perform a clean front handspring double front with a half twist and double twisting Tsukahara. 
 

Brazilian Team Facts:

- Diego Hypolito is the 2005 and 2007 World Champion on Floor. He also won a silver on floor at the 2006 World Championships. He was the first South American male artistic gymnast to win a World medal.

- Diego Hypolito the younger brother of Daniele Hypolito, the first Brazilian gymnast ever to medal at Worlds.  

- Sergio Sasaki placed 19th in the all around at the 2009 World Championships at just 17 years old.