News


The Brixia gymnastics club won the Italian first division Championship three times (in 1998, 1999 and 2000).

The 2000 team members were: Irene Castelli, Francesca Morotti, Monica Bergamelli, Giorgia Denti and Charlie Franzoni.


Updates


Brescia's gymnasts are working on new routines for the new COP. Enrico Casella, their coach, said he hopes Irene and Monica will be more competitive once the new COP goes into effect. Monica Sacchi and Ilaria Cortinovis (both of them born in 1988) will move up to Brescia's senior team once the 2001 Club Championships start. Giorgia Denti is continuing her rehab after her elbow injury and hopes to join her teammates soon.

Italy's team finished 11th in the preliminary team competition in Sydney with a total of 148.638 pts. Monica Bergamelli was the top all-arounder for Italy, scoring 37.461 pts, to finish 26th. Mony's best score came on vault where she scored a 9.499. Adriana Crisci, and Martina Bremini also qualified for the all-around finals which take place on Thursday.

Elena Olivetti injured her left ACL while practicing on vault in Sydney and will have to miss the Olympics. Elena will be replaced by Laura Trefiletti, the Italian team alternate who was already in Australia. Unfortunately, Elena will also be forced to leave the Olympic Village since she is no longer a member of the Olympic team. You can try writing to her through IBM's fanmail web site.

Italy finished second in a dual meet against Spain in Gijon, scoring 151.324 pts to Spain's 153,212. Martina Bremini was the first Italian in the AA, scoring 38.2 points, to finish third. Mony placed 4th, with a total of 37.7 (her best international showing this year). Adriana Crisci was 5th, with 37.6 points.

The Italian women's team will compete in the Belorussian cup, scheduled to take place in Minsk from August 7th-11th. The team members who will compete in Minsk are Monica Bergamelli, Martina Bremini, Alice Capitani, Irene Castelli, Adriana Crisci, Elena Olivetti, and Laura Trefiletti. Later on, Italy will take on the Spanish team in a dual meet in Gijon (August 26th). Following their meet against Spain, the Italian team will practice in France for 10 days, and compete in another dual meet against the host team in Thann.
For a complete run-down of the Italian team's (very busy!) schedule, visit ItaGym's website.

Brixia's gymnasts performed very well and swept the junior competition in Meda. The junior championships were divided into two categories L1 (10-11 years old) and L2 (12-13 years old).

L1 all-around
1. Wendy Salvi (Brixia) 38,600
2. Francesca Benolli (Art. 81 Trieste) 37,425
3. Roberta Galante (Brixia) 37,300
4. Vanessa Ferrari (Brixia) 37,200

L2 all-around
1. Monica Sacchi (Brixia) 37.038
2. Erica Rampini (Parma) 36,850
3. Boldori Marta (Pro Patria Milano) 36,775
4. Ilaria Cortinovis (Brixia) 36,638

Adriana Crisci and Igor Cassina are the new Italian Champions. Monica and Irene performed well in Meda, with Monica winning the vault finals, and Irene performing her new vault -a yurchenko 1.5- in the event finals. This means the Italian team has five gymnasts who are doing vault with a SV of 9.8 or higher: Mony, Martina Bremini and Elena Olivetti are doing double twisting yurchenkos, while Adriana Crisci and now Irene Castelli are doing yurchenkos 1.5.

Women's all-around
1. Adriana Crisci (Pro Novara) 38.113
2. Elena Olivetti (La Fenice Roma) 37.387
3. Martina Bremini (Artistica 81 Trieste) 37.300
4. Monica Bergamelli (Brixia Brescia) 36.437
5. Laura Trefiletti (Pro Patria Milano) 35.850
6. Ilaria Colombo (Gal Lissone) 35.337
7. Nelly Ramassamy (France) 35.063 (guest competitor)
8. Alice Capitani (Balduina Roma) 34.950.

Event Finals winners
Vault: Monica Bergamelli
Uneven Bars: Adriana Crisci
Balance Beam: Adriana Crisci
Floor: Elena Olivetti



I recently heard from Enrico Casella, Brescia's head coach, and I wanted to pass along the latest news. The National training camps in preparation for the Olympic games will start in one month. Brescia's gymnasts are recovering from their injuries: Monica's knee injury is almost healed, Irene is still injured, and Francesca Morotti is still unsure whether or not she will compete at the upcoming individual championships to be held in Meda. Giorgia Denti will also be able to compete in Meda against all of Italy's top senior gymnasts.


Following their great showing in the team competition (best ever by an Italian women's team), the "azzurre" continue to impress in Paris. Mony bounced back from her disappointing performance on vault in the team competition, where she only scored an 8.331, to finish 11th the all-around competition. She performed a double twisting yurchenko on vault (9.25); tumbled an arabian double front, double pike, 2.5 twists punch front, and a double twist-immediate shushunova dismount on floor, for a score of 9.425. She added a 9.487 on bars and a 9.137 on beam for a total of 37.299. Adriana Crisci finished 18th, after a mistake in her bars routine (8.012). Adry is competing tomorrow in the uneven bars and floor finals, and you can expect some great performances from her, as well as Martina Bremini and Elena Olivetti, who have qualified for the vault and beam finals respectively.


Led by Adriana Crisci's 8th place finish in the all-around prelims, Italy's team finished 5th in senior team competition at this year's European Championships --a great result by anyone's standards :o). Adriana also qualified for two individual event finals, bars (9.662) and floor (9.675). Martina Bremini qualified for the vault final with a 9.506 average, and Elena Olivetti made the beam finals with a score of 9.450. Monica Bergamelli was 20th in the AA prelims and she will join Adriana Crisci in tomorrow's individual competition. Italy's junior team finished 7th.

For complete results, visit the French Federation website.


The Italian teams for Europeans have been announced.

Senior Team: Monica Bergamelli, Martina Bremini, Adriana Crisci, Elena Olivetti and Laura Trefiletti.
Junior Team: Cristina Cavalli, Ilaria Colombo, Daria Sharkosh, Erika Soligo and Claudia Sparpaglione.

Giorgia Denti would have been on the junior team, but a last minute back injury will keep her sidelined during the competition. We wish her a speedy recovery! The Italian team is currently training in Milan, and they are leaving for Paris on May 9th


Italy's senior team won the recently concluded Italy-Netherlands-Czech Republic tri-meet that was held in Oldenzaal (Ned) on April 30th. Despite a questionable judging panel that included 12 Dutch judges, and only 4 from the Czech Republic and Italy combined, the Italian gymnasts managed to win the meet 110.949 pts to the Netherlands' 110.525. Monica Bergamelli had the highest score of the meet on vault, with a 9.437 average for her double twisting yurchenko, and the third best score on floor with a 9.475. Her AA total of 36.726 was good enough for fifth place overall. Irene Castelli competed only two events, vault and bars, and helped the Italian team win first place overall. Adriana Crisci was the top all arounder from Italy, finishing second overall with a total of 37.262 pts. For complete results visit the Dutch gymnastics web site.


Italy's senior team finished second in the dual meet against Spain, 147.6 to 149.85 pts, while the Italian juniors won their meet 142,250 to 139.725 pts. Monica finished 7th in AA with a score of 36,500. The good news is that she is completely recovered from her knee injury and she's much improved since the club championships. Despite a shaky start -scary fall on bars and bad form on her double layout dismount- Monica came back to have a good beam routine, scoring a 9.075 (one of the two 9.0+ scores awarded to the Italian gymnasts on beam). She would have scored higher, but the judges did not credit some of her connections, and she ended up with a 9.7 SV. Floor saw her go back to her old tumbling runs: arabian double front, whip double pike, 2.5 twist punch front and double twist-shushunova to end. On vault, Mony's double twisting Yurchenkos earned her a 9.425 average, and the highest score on the Italian team. Unfortunately, Irene is still struggling to regain her skills after a 4 in growth spurt, but she still managed to score above a 9 on vault and FX. Giorgia Denti competed AA in the junior meet and contributed to her team's first place finish. All in all, a good meet for Brixia's gymnasts, who can look forward to a good showing at Europeans.

The meet report was provided by Alessandro (grazie:o)!!). You can find the complete results at ItaGym 's web site.


Monica, Irene, and Giorgia Denti, accompanied by Enrico Casella will be in Milan for the national camp in preparation of ITA -SPA meet for juniors and seniors. The camp starts Monday and the dual meet will be held in Novara on April 16th.


Irene and Monica were both slightly injured in Porto San Giorgio, which is why they competed only two events: beam and vault. Enrico Casella was very happy with Giorgia and Charlie's strong performances and he was pleased they handled the pressure of replacing their experienced teammates as well as they did. Brescia's gymnasts will take a small break and try te be back in top form for the upcoming (international) season.

Led by Adriana Crisci, Pro Novara won the final stage of the Italian Team Championships. Brescia finished second in Porto San Giorgio, followed by Gal Lissone. Brescia's team won the overall title of Italian Team Champions for the third year in a row. Congratulations go out to Monica Bergamelli, Irene Castelli, Francesca Morotti, Giorgia Denti, Charlie Franzoni and their coach, Enrico Casella for this great performance.

Results from Porto San Giorgio

1 Pro Novara 55,375
2 BIESSE Brixia 54,250
3 GAL Lissone 53,350
4 Pro Patria Milano 51,050
5 Spes Mestre 49,550
6 Juventus Nova Melzo 49,525
7 Alma Juventus Fano 48,900
8 La Fenice Roma 47,800

Final Standings

1 BIESSE Brixia 94
2 GAL Lissone 87
3 Pro Novara 77

Brescia's gymnasts are currently training for the upcoming European Championships. Irene and Monica are strong contenders for the Senior team, and Giorgia Denti hopes to compete in the Junior Europeans. Unfotunately, Francesca Morotti fell behind her traing schedule after her ankle injury and she will most likely miss the European Championships.

Brixia won the third stage of the Italian Team Championships, held in Modena. Alessandro Conti was nice enough to send me a few comments on the meet. Monica scored a 9.575 on vault for her two stuck double twisting yurchenkos. She had a great routine going on bars until a fall on her Tkatchev, but she still managed to score a 9.00 on the strength of her other skills. Irene Castelli competed two hristakievas on vault, did a gorgeous bars routine that earned her a 9.55, but unfortunately she only scored an 8.7 on floor (fall on her 2.5 twist punch front). Giorgia Denti performed a very solid floor routine.
Here are the results from Modena, courtesy of Enrico Casella:

Results from Modena

1 BIESSE Brixia 55.000
2 GAL Lissone 53.675
3 Pro Patria Milano 52.550
4 Spes Mestre 52.175
5 Juventus Nova Melzo 48.925
6 Alma Juventus Fano 46.200
7 La Fenice Roma 46.100
8 Pro Novara 42.300


Brixia finished second in the second stage of the Italian Team Championships. Monica and Irene performed very well on bars, scoring 9.425 and 9.475 respectively. Monica made a few mistakes during her floor routine (stepped out of bounds on her double twist) and ended up scoring an 8.75. Georgia Denti, a newcomer to senior competitions, was Brescia's second performer on floor. Gal Lissone, led by their talented junior duo of Cristina Cavalli and Ilaria Colombo, won the meet.

Results from Cesena

1.Gal Lissone 55.650
2. Brixia Brescia 55.175
3.Pro Novara 52.500
4.Spes Mestre 50.600
5.Pro Patria 1883 50.400
6.Juventus Nova Melzo 46.475
7.Alma Juventus 46.025
8.La Fenice 43.350


Great news! Monica has received an award from the FIG, officially commending her for her results in international competitions. Bruno Grandi, the president of the Italian Gymnastics Federation presented her with the award in Milano, at an event organized in honor of the late Andrea Massucchi (world silver medalist on vault in 1996). Three other Italian gymnasts were honored at the ceremony, including Martina Bremini, Adriana Crisci, and Brescia's Irene Castelli.

Led by Irene Castelli and Monica Bergamelli, Brixia's team won the first stage of the Italian Team Championships held in Mestre. Enrico Casella was very pleased with his gymnasts' performance, which he described as "wonderful". Monica's great showing is especially noteworthy since she just came back from the United States, where she competed in the American cup qualifier. Francesca Morotti was sidelined with an ankle injury she suffered just two days before the competition. We wish her a speedy recovery! Pictures from the meet, kindly provided by Enrico Casella, are now up on the pictures page.

Results from Mestre

1. Brixia Brescia
2. Pro Novara
3. Gal Lissone

Monica finished 7th in the all-around competition at the second American Cup qualifier (35.737 pts). Her best score, a 9.125, came on beam, where she successfully completed her new punch front mount. Igor Cassina finished 8th in the men's event. Enrico Casella said the Italian gymnasts didn't arrive in Florida early enough to get accustomed to the new time zone and the competition was held between 1 and 4:30 am, according to the time zone they were used to. As soon as Monica returns to Italy, she'll have to get ready for the National Team Championships that start on February 5th. Brixia's gymnasts are the reigning National Champions.

Enrico Casella provided me with a quick update on Monica. She looked very good in her last practices and she will be debuting some new skills in her routines, including a Tkachev on bars, a punch front mount on beam and a triple twist on floor. Igor Cassina will be representing Italy in the men's event. Full results will be posted at the USA-Gymnastics website

Brixia has signed a sponsorship contract with the Biesse company. Finding a sponsor for gymnastics is not an easy task, but thanks to the great results Brescia's gymnasts had last year -including having 3 gymnasts on the World team- the club has found a sponsor.

It's been oficially confirmed that Monica will be going to the American Cup qualifier in Florida. The competition takes place at the same time as the first meet of the Italian team Championships, January 29th 1999. I will post a roster of Brescia's team as soon as it becomes available. The team will try to win its third National title this year.

Monica will compete in the 2000 American Cup! She will be in Saint Petersburg, Florida, along with Enrico Casella, on January 29th for the qualifying competition. If everything goes well, which I have every reason to believe will happen, she will compete in the American Cup finals, on February 26th.

Previous news have been archived.



You can e-mail the Brescia Gymnastics Club and show your support for their gymnasts.
They'd be very happy to hear from their fans :o)!