Rheintalcup
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Rheintalcup is the only international
artistic gymnastics Artistic gymnastics is a discipline of gymnastics in which athletes perform short routines on different types of apparatus. The sport is governed by the Federation Internationale de Gymnastique, Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG), ...
tournament for male juniors and seniors in
Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...
. Since 1996, the competition takes place in Widnau in
St. Gallen Rhine Valley The Alpine Rhine Valley () is a glacial valley, glacial Valley of the Alps, alpine valley, formed by the Alpine Rhine ( ), the part of the Rhine between the confluence of the Anterior Rhine and Posterior Rhine at Reichenau, Switzerland, Reichena ...
(Rheintal). The Rheintalcup serves older gymnasts as a qualifying competition for various national and international competitions in the junior and senior sections. On a second day of competition, younger Swiss gymnasts compete there as part of the annual Ostschweizer Cup (Eastern Switzerland Cup).


History

Artistic gymnastics competitions were held in the
St. Gallen Rhine Valley The Alpine Rhine Valley () is a glacial valley, glacial Valley of the Alps, alpine valley, formed by the Alpine Rhine ( ), the part of the Rhine between the confluence of the Anterior Rhine and Posterior Rhine at Reichenau, Switzerland, Reichena ...
between 1985 and 1994. Before the first Rheintalcup took place in the Oberstufenzentrum Kleewies (high school) on 9 April 1995, the Meyer Cup was held ten times in Diepoldsau at the same place. The competition got its name from the region. Since the second edition in 1996, the competition has been held annually in Widnau, most recently in the Sporthalle Aegeten (sports hall). There were exceptions to the annual rhythm in 2006, when the St. Galler Kunstturnertage (artistic gymnastics days) took place instead, and in 2020 and 2021 due to the cancellations in the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
. The 25th anniversary edition, which was already planned in these years, was deferred to 2022. In the beginning, the competition only consisted of a regional part, in later years it was supplemented by an international part.


Organization

The organizer of the competition is the Turnzentrum Rheintal (Gymnastic Centre). The association was founded in 1995 by the TZ Diepoldau (later KTZ Diepoldsau-Schmitter) and offers training opportunities for boys from 4 to 13 years of age before they can qualify for training in the Regionales Leistungszentrum Ost (Regional Training Center East) in Wil. The competitions at the Rheintalcup take place early in the competition year and often serve as orientation for the gymnasts. Unlike other international competitions in other countries, the largest international competition in artistic gymnastics for male juniors and seniors in Switzerland is not organized by a national but by a local organizer. The
Swiss Cup The Swiss Cup (; ; ; ) is a football cup competition that has been organised annually since 1925–26 season by the Swiss Football Association. The Swiss Cup final is usually the most important game of the year with a high attendance. The co ...
, which has an even higher international profile and takes place at the end of the competition year, offers a kind of cup competition with duels between two countries and separates the junior and senior competitions instead of an all-around competition with finals. As is usual with other competitions of this kind, the Rheintalcup is supported not only by entry fees, but also primarily by sponsorship,
raffle A raffle is a gambling competition in which people obtain numbered tickets, each of which has the chance of winning a prize. At a set time, the winners are drawn at random from a container holding a copy of each number. The drawn tickets are che ...
s and the commitment of volunteers from the association, and generates a quarter of the annual budget of the Turnzentrum Rheintal. In addition to show competitions by local gymnastics groups, majorettes from the
Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...
are part of the program and show their exercises at the award ceremonies and accompany the gymnasts when they march in and change apparatus during the competitions. In the Sportzentrum Aegeten itself there are rooms for participants in the competition. File:2022-04-09 25th Rheintalcup 2022 P6 team final victory ceremony (Martin Rulsch) 09.jpg, Honoring of the former by the current competition director File:2022-04-09 25th Rheintalcup 2022 P6 Senior victory ceremony (Martin Rulsch) 12.jpg, Organization of a raffle by the club president File:2022-04-09 25th Rheintalcup 2022 P6 team final victory ceremony (Martin Rulsch) 27.jpg, Performance by a local gymnastics group File:2022-04-09 25th Rheintalcup 2022 P6 Junior victory ceremony (Martin Rulsch) 051.jpg, Majorettes at a performance File:2022-04-09 25th Rheintalcup 2022 P6 Junior competition Subdivision 1 (Martin Rulsch) 45.jpg, Accompaniment of gymnasts from the Zurich Gymnastics Association during rotations by the majorettes


Execution


Friday: Setup and training

Since the competition weekend cannot take place in the small training hall of the TZ Rheintal, the multi-purpose hall in the Sportzentrum Aegeten in Widnau will be used for the event. The mats prescribed by the
International Gymnastics Federation The International Gymnastics Federation ( French: ''Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique'', abbr. FIG) is the body governing competition in all disciplines of gymnastics. Its headquarters is in Lausanne, Switzerland. It was founded on 23 ...
and the six pieces of Olympic gymnastics apparatus are set up on the hall floor by club volunteers. As is usual in international competitions, there will be a
podium training Gymnastics is a group of sport that includes physical exercises requiring Balance (ability), balance, Strength training, strength, Flexibility (anatomy), flexibility, agility, Motor coordination, coordination, artistry and endurance. The movem ...
session on the set-up apparatus before the competition, which will allow the gymnasts to make final preparations. On the one hand, the special features of these devices should be learned in order to adapt for the competition. On the other hand, entire exercises or relevant elements can be tried out again on the equipment on site in order to determine the final exercise for the competition together with the coach. Since the training for juniors and seniors from all participating countries is designed as free training, there is also the opportunity to get to know gymnasts and their elements better in advance. However, there is no obligation to participate in this training. In a concluding technical session, the demands and needs of the delegations for the devices will also be discussed. File:2019-04-13 Rheintalcup P6 Senior victory ceremony (Martin Rulsch) 01.jpg, Preparation of the competition hall with flags of the participating countries on the hall ceiling File:2022-04-08 25th Rheintalcup 2022 Training 8 April (Martin Rulsch) 011.jpg, Appeal from a team (here Poland) before the podium training File:2022-04-08 25th Rheintalcup 2022 Training 8 April Parallel bars (Martin Rulsch) 002.jpg, Preparation of the parallel bars during podium training by Team Belgium File:2022-04-08 25th Rheintalcup 2022 Training 8 April Pommel horse (Martin Rulsch) 278.jpg, Setup of the pommel horse by Team Austria File:2022-04-08 25th Rheintalcup 2022 Training 8 April Horizontal bar (Martin Rulsch) 410.jpg, Gymnasts from Germany training on the horizontal bar


Saturday: International competition

The international competition consists of several parts: an all-around for juniors, an all-around for seniors and an apparatus or team final. Since 2015, the two all-around competitions with open freestyle exercises have been taking place in accordance with the rules of the
International Gymnastics Federation The International Gymnastics Federation ( French: ''Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique'', abbr. FIG) is the body governing competition in all disciplines of gymnastics. Its headquarters is in Lausanne, Switzerland. It was founded on 23 ...
(Swiss program 6). The difficulty and execution of the exercises will be judged by a panel of judges composed of members of the participating nations according to the international Code of Points. In previous years, the juniors could compete in the Swiss program 5, which includes compulsory and bonus elements and is evaluated accordingly. If a large number of gymnasts are registered for the all-around competitions, the competitions can take place in several subdivisions. There is no obligation to participate on all devices. The winner of the all-around is the person with the highest number of points of all participants, and the cantonal champion for St. Gallen in program 6 is also determined. The following countries have taken part in the international competitions so far: Belgium, Bulgaria, Costa Rica, Germany, England, France, Italy, Japan, Croatia, Luxembourg, Monaco, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Russia, the Czech Republic and Hungary. At the same time, there is a competition in the open program in which Swiss amateur gymnasts compete. Here only the four best gymnastics devices are judged and the winner is awarded separately. The all-around competitions at the Rheintalcup serve the Swiss gymnasts as qualifying competitions for their national championships. Occasionally, official qualifications for national and international competitions in the junior and senior sections also take place at the Rheintalcup. For example, the qualification for the Junior and Senior European Championships 2014 and the qualification for the European Olympic Youth Festival in the same year were held there for the Swiss gymnasts. The Rheintalcup in 2022 was officially recognized as a qualifying competition for the
Universiade The FISU World University Games, formerly the Universiade, is an international multi-sport event, organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The former name is a Blend word, portmanteau of the wor ...
. In the evening after the all-around competitions, an apparatus final in the junior and senior sections on the three apparatuses floor, parallel bars and horizontal bar take place. Occasionally, as at the 25th Rheintalcup, team finals of the best participating nations take place, in which a junior and a senior gymnast have to collect points together on the same apparatus in order to determine the winning country. In the context of the international competition, there are often other activities such as a sponsored aperitif or a
raffle A raffle is a gambling competition in which people obtain numbered tickets, each of which has the chance of winning a prize. At a set time, the winners are drawn at random from a container holding a copy of each number. The drawn tickets are che ...
. File:2022-04-09 25th Rheintalcup 2022 P6 Junior competition Subdivision 2 Vault (Martin Rulsch) 025.jpg, Team England lineup in front of the judges before the exercises File:2022-04-09 25th Rheintalcup 2022 P6 Senior competition Horizontal bar (Martin Rulsch) 270.jpg, Marco Pfyl, winner of the 2022 seniors’ all-around, doing the Tkatchev straddle on the
horizontal bar The horizontal bar, also known as the high bar, is an apparatus used by male gymnasts in artistic gymnastics. It traditionally consists of a cylindrical metal (typically steel) bar that is rigidly held above and parallel to the floor by a syst ...
File:2019-04-13 Rheintalcup P6 Junior victory ceremony (Martin Rulsch) 17.jpg, Line-up of the juniors at the 2019 all-around victory ceremony File:2022-04-09 25th Rheintalcup 2022 P6 Senior victory ceremony (Martin Rulsch) 55.jpg, alt=Senior podium at the 2022 all-around victory ceremony, Senior podium at the 2022 all-around victory ceremony: Marco Pfyl (gold), Dominic Tamsel (silver), Moreno Kratter (bronze) File:2022-04-09 25th Rheintalcup 2022 P6 team final victory ceremony (Martin Rulsch) 78.jpg, Victory ceremony in the team finals during the national anthem


Sunday: Ostschweizer Cup

After a modification of the hall for younger gymnasts, competitions in the Swiss categories introductory program to program 4 take place on Sunday exclusively for Swiss junior gymnasts aged six to 13 years. Since these competitions are part of the Ostschweizer Cup (Eastern Swiss Cup), gymnasts mainly from these regions take part. In addition to the organizing TZ Rheintal, this also includes the gymnastics centers in
Fürstenland Fürstenland or Alte Landschaft is the name of a historic territory of the Swiss canton of St. Gallen, corresponding to the modern districts of St. Gallen (without the city proper), Wil and Rorschach. It was a subject territory of the Abbey of ...
and Graubünden, the Turnfabrik (gymnatics factury) in the
canton of Thurgau Thurgau (; ; ; ), anglicized as Thurgovia, and formally as the Canton of Thurgau, is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of five districts. Its capital is Frauenfeld. Thurgau is part of Eastern Switzerland. I ...
and, from program 3 on, the Regionales Leistungszentrum Ost (Regional Performance Center East) in Wil. In addition to the gymnasts from
Eastern Switzerland Eastern Switzerland (, , , ) is the common name of the region situated to the east of Glarus Alps, with the cantons of Schaffhausen, Thurgau, St. Gallen, Appenzell Ausserrhoden, Appenzell Innerrhoden, and Glarus. The north of canton of Graubün ...
, juniors from other regions, for example from the cantons of Aargau,
Schaffhausen Schaffhausen (; ; ; ; ), historically known in English as Shaffhouse, is a list of towns in Switzerland, town with historic roots, a municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in northern Switzerland, and the capital of the canton of Schaffh ...
and
Zurich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...
, also take part. The competitions within the Ostschweizer Cup serve as qualification competitions for the Swiss Junior Championships and as a cantonal championship in St. Gallen. The competitions are also held as all-arounds. In some cases, programs are combined in one run if the number of participants is low. The six Olympic apparatuses are adapted for the younger gymnasts in each program. This includes the modification of jumping tracks with mini-trampolines instead of
springboard A springboard or diving board is used for diving and is a board that is itself a spring, i.e. a linear flex-spring, of the cantilever type. Springboards are commonly fixed by a hinge at one end (so they can be flipped up when not in use), and ...
s, smaller
parallel bars Parallel bars are floor apparatus consisting of two wooden bars approximately long and positioned at above the floor. Parallel bars are used in artistic gymnastics and also for physical therapy and home exercise. Gymnasts may optionally wear ...
and additions to the regular pommel horse with two pommels such as a gymnastic mushroom without or with a pommel, horses on the ground or horses without pommels. A panel of judges composed of the participating clubs evaluates compulsory and bonus elements according to the Swiss adaptations of the international Code of Points for these programs. The winner of the all-around is the person with the highest number of points of all participants per program. In addition, the cantonal champion is awarded in the various programs. File:2022-04-10 25th Rheintalcup 2022 EP competition Parallel bars (Martin Rulsch) 270.jpg, Gymnasts from the canton of Zurich in the introductory program on parallel bars File:2022-04-10 25th Rheintalcup 2022 P2–4 competition Floor exercise (Martin Rulsch) 013.jpg, alt=Gymnast from the Regionales Leistungszentrum Ost performs a V-sit with horizontal legs, Gymnast from the Regionales Leistungszentrum Ost performs a V-sit with horizontal legs (so-called manna). File:2022-04-10 25th Rheintalcup 2022 P1 victory ceremony (Martin Rulsch) 69.jpg, Team photo of Turnzentrum Graubünden (
Grisons The Grisons (; ) or Graubünden (),Names include: * ; *Romansh language, Romansh: ** ** ** ** ** **; * ; * ; * . See also list of European regions with alternative names#G, other names. more formally the Canton of the Grisons or the Canton ...
) in program 1 File:2022-04-10 25th Rheintalcup 2022 P2–4 victory ceremony (Martin Rulsch) 43.jpg, Victory ceremony for the cantonal champion in program 2 with a green jersey for the leader in the Ostschweizer Cup File:2022-04-10 25th Rheintalcup 2022 P2–4 victory ceremony (Martin Rulsch) 47.jpg, Victory ceremony in program 3 with gymnasts from the Turnzentrum Frauenfeld, Graubünden (Grisons) and the Thurgauer Turnfabrik


Successful gymnasts at the Rheintalcup (selection)

Switzerland: *
Pablo Brägger Pablo Dominic Brägger (born 27 November 1992) is a Swiss former artistic gymnast. He is the 2017 European champion on the horizontal bar. He won a bronze medal on the floor exercise at the 2015 European Championships and a bronze medal in the ...
* Claudio Capelli *
Oliver Hegi Oliver Nicola Hegi (born 20 February 1993) is a Swiss male artistic gymnast and a member of the national team. He participated at the 2015 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Glasgow, and qualified for the 2016 Summer Olympics The 20 ...
* Moreno Kratter * Li Donghua * Henji Mboyo *
Marco Pfyl Marco may refer to: People Given name * Marco (actor) (born 1977), South Korean model and actor Surname * Georg Marco (1863–1923), Romanian chess player of German origin * Jindřich Marco (1921–2000), Czechoslovak photographer and numisma ...
* Taha Serhani International: * Filip Boroša, Croatia * Carlo Hörr, Germany{{cite web, title=Hörr und Rimenidis in der Schweiz erfolgreich, periodical=, publisher=TSV Schmiden, url=https://turnen.tsv-schmiden.de/homenews/detail/news/hoerr-und-rimenidis-in-der-schweiz-erfolgreich, url-status=, format=, access-date=2022-05-22, archive-url=, archive-date=, last=Lars Breuning, date=2019-04-16, year=, language=, pages=, quote= * Joshua Nathan, England * Mario Rauscher, Austria *
Giarnni Regini-Moran Giarnni Lorenzo Regini-Moran (born 2 August 1998) is a British artistic gymnast representing Great Britain and England internationally. He is the 2022 world champion on floor exercise (the second British world floor champion after Beth Tweddle ...
, England *
Tin Srbić Tin Srbić (born 11 September 1996) is a Croatian artistic gymnast. He is the 2017 World champion on the horizontal bar and the first Croatian to win a gold medal at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. He is also the 2020 Olympic, 20 ...
, Kroatien *
Nile Wilson Nile Michael Wilson (born 17 January 1996) is a former British artistic gymnast. He won an Olympic bronze medal in the men's horizontal bar at the 2016 Summer Olympics; he was a world medallist as a member of the silver-medal winning British ...
, England


Literature

* TZ Rheintal (ed.): ''Programmheft Rheintalcup 2022. 25 Jahre Jubiläum.'' self-publishing 2022
available online
.


References


External links


Website
of the 25th Rheintalcup
Video
for the 25th anniversary of the competition Gymnastics in Switzerland Gymnastics competitions