Ukrainian Gymnasts Became European Champions in Team All-Around for the Second Time in History

At the 2024 European Gymnastics Championships held in Rimini, Italy, from April 24th to 28th, the Ukrainian team secured the gold in the team all-around event. The Ukrainians amassed a total score of 255.762 points, while the British team took silver with 255.429 points, and the bronze went to Italy with 252.560 points, as reported by Ukrinform.

This marks the second gold for the Ukrainian team in the European team all-around championships in gymnastics. Their first victory in this category was in 2020.

Also at these championships in individual events, Ukrainian gymnast Illia Kovtun claimed two gold medals in the parallel bars and horizontal bar exercises. Kovtun displayed the best performances in the qualifying rounds for both disciplines and maintained his leadership during the finals.

In the parallel bars, he surpassed Cypriot athlete Marios Georgiou and Noah Zeifert from Switzerland. In the horizontal bar event, Kovtun shared the podium with Lithuanian gymnast Robert Tvorogal and Cypriot athlete Marius Georgiou.

It's worth noting that Kovtun became the third Ukrainian gymnast in history to win two individual gold medals at the European Championships in a single year, joining the ranks of Oleksandr Beresh and Oleg Verniaiev.

Overall, Ukraine ranked second in the overall standings of the competition with three gold medals. The top position was held by Great Britain with five golds, followed by Italy with two golds. France secured the fourth spot, also with two gold medals but fewer silver and bronze medals compared to Italy, as the French team has two of each while Italy has three.

Recall that The Gaze reported on April 16 that a symbolic event took place in Olympia, southern Greece, the birthplace of the ancient Olympic Games. The Olympic flame was lit, marking the countdown to the opening of the Summer Olympic Games in Paris.

The meticulously planned ceremony took place in front of the 2600-year-old ruins of the Temple of Hera, the cradle of Olympism, in the presence of International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach.

The flame travelled approximately 5,000 km across Greek territory in 11 days before reaching the port of Piraeus, south of Athens, where it was loaded onto the ship Belém heading to Marseille. Before reaching France, it will pass through Martinique and New Caledonia, finally arriving in Paris for the opening ceremony on July 26th.