When we came back from the tournament on Madeira, we heard that the Dutch Federation gave us the invitation for the Portimão tournament. Of course we were very happy and looking forward to it! Roxanne would participate in junior competition and Melanie and I in senior competition. Lisette was coming as coach. Unfortunately due to the large number of tournaments and competitions, there wasn't any international judge who could come with us so we came without a judge.
Our plane only left at 5 o'clock in the afternoon so in the morning we went to school as
normally. We were the very last delegation to arrive, most countries had arrived on Wednesday.
A little buss of the organisation picked us up at Faro airport and drove us to Portimão. At first we stopped
at the sports hall. I've been in Portimão in 2001, with group, and it was the same sports hall.
In the hall we got a pass and the order of competition. Roxanne was in group A of the junior competition, Melanie
in group B of the senior competition and I in group A.
The hotel was different from 2001, it is called Hotel Jupiter. That evening Roxanne, Melanie and I
went outside for a couple of minutes to the little shops next to the hotel. After that Lisette came to our room to
talk about the schedule for tomorrow. Since we arrived so late we didn't have any training yet, so we got the opportunity
to train Friday morning. We promised not to go to bed too late, so we went to sleep.
We had breakfast at 8 o'clock and at half past nine we went to the sports hall by bus for training.
When we arrived they first checked our apparatus. Everything was okay and they gave us little stickers on it and
a stamp on our ribbons --> really cool!
We had training from 9 to 10:30. We just did all our routines once to check them out. I really like the sports hall,
the carpet is about the same as the one we have at home.
After the training we went back to the hotel. Lisette and Roxanne had to lunch immediately, since they had to go back
to the hall at a quarter to 12. After they left, Melanie and I went to the swimming pool of the hotel. Only the wether wasn't
very good, there were clouds in front of the sun all the time.
Roxanne was in group A so we were able to watch her competition. There were some good juniors, we liked the Japanese girl very
much. Roxanne had to start with ribbon, which she did very good. Her 2nd routine was clubs, but in this one she had some mistakes and
she wasn't really happy with it.
After the competition we went back to the hotel. We had some free time so we went to the souvenir shops.
Lisette and I had to go back at a quarter past five. During warming-up it was really hot in the sports hall, but it made
it easier to become flexible.
I was number 14 so I was one of the last gymnasts of my group to compete. My first routine was ball, the technical difficulties
were okay but I had two ball mistakes. I dropped once and one throw I had to catch outside of the carpet. It was the kind of routine I
could've been satisfied with if I had done a fantastic hoop routine... Only I didn't. Both technical as artistic difficulties weren't good,
plus two drops and some errors in execution...
After the competition of group A the opening ceremony started and after that Melanie's competition. She did very good with both hoop and ball,
I think the only mistake was leaving a artistic bonus out.
After the competition we went back to the hotel. Roxanne and I were a bit angry with ourselves so we decided to run down the stairs and back.
Since we were on 6th floor, that helped.
Roxanne was in 2nd group today so we could sleep late. We went to the swimming pool after breakfast but it was really cold and after a while
it even started raining! We went to the shops again until lunch at 1 o'clock. After lunch Roxanne and Lisette left to the hall and suddenly the clouds
dissapeared and it was really sunny and warm!
Melanie and I went to the beach all afternoon. We wanted to send Lisette an mms with a picture of us on the beach but unfortunately it didn't work.
I was burned a bit (read: a lot) buth happily it only started to showed and hurted after the competition.
Roxanne came back and Melanie left with the same bus. 1.5 hour later Roxanne and I followed.
Roxanne had done a very good competition today, both her routines had been great. Only her marks were a bit dissapointing.
Melanie did a bit less than yesterday, in ribbon she had good difficulties but she had a really silly drop and in clubs she had some mistakes too.
My competition was better than yesterday. Ribbon was okay except for almost all(!) pivots. Since pivots are so important in ribbon, that wasn't really smart...
Clubs was really good! Happily at least one good routine this tournament.
Eventually Roxanne had ended 23rd, Melanie 24th and I 19th.
In the bus back to the hotel we showed Lisette and Roxanne the photo of the beach and they were
really jaleous ;P Lisette promised us an extra training as 'punishment' but until now (one week later) we never got it...
Allready the last day... We had to be at the airport at half past six so we couldn't stay for
the banquet. We couldn't even see all finals... Unfortunately the wether wasn't that good anymore, it
was cloudy and there was a strong wind. We decided to go to the beach anyway but we got almost blown away and it started raining again!
Yesterday our coach was asked if we wanted to train this morning and she said no but now I was sorry.
After lunch we left with all our suitcases to the sports hall. We could leave our luggage in the bus.
Happily in the order of the finals the juniors and seniors were mixed so we could see a bit of both. The Portugese gymnasts (Raquel Muro e Silva, Inês Gomez) really
impressed me. They have an Ukrainian coach now and they improved so much!
In the junior finals Mikuri Hayashida competed in three events and we heard she was only ten years old! She was really good and cute and she managed to get bronze in
ribbon! I'm sure we will hear from her in the future.
Halfway the competition we had to leave and for us the Portimão tournament was over...