On the fifth and final day of the 2013 European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF) Team GB’s young athletes won four gold, five silver and four bronze medals. This brought Great Britain’s overall medal tally to 31, comprising of 9 gold, 14 silver and 8 bronze medals which placed Team GB second in the medal table.
Gold Silver Bronze Total
Russia 29 14 13 56
Great Britain 9 14 8 31
France 9 6 7 23
At the Galgenwaard Stadium Team GB’s gymnasts exerted their dominance at the EYOF winning three gold, two silver, and one bronze medal on the final day of competition.
Double EYOF gold medallist Brinn Bevan (Benfleet) got the team off to a winning start securing a silver medal on the floor with a score of 14.150.
On the pommel horse Nile Wilson (Leeds) took finals as an opportunity to prove what he was capable of. Wilson scored 13.950 to secure the gold medal with Bevan finishing just shy of the medals in fourth place.
The next apparatus on the agenda for the duo was the rings. Bevan was up first and unfortunately fell on landing, scoring 13.100. Wilson held his nerve to claim his second gold medal of the session scoring 14.100.
In his third and final apparatus, the parallel bars, Wilson who was trying out a new routine, made a mistake and finished just outside of the medals in fourth place. However, Bevan held his nerves to add another silver medal to his medal collection.
Bevan had one last shot at the gold medal on the high bar, his last apparatus final of the day. Unfortunately he missed his second catch and saw himself finish in in eighth place.
Speaking after a long day which saw Bevan compete in five of the six MAG individual finals he said: “I am really happy because I won four medals this week; two gold and two silver. I really couldn’t have hoped for any more.
“I mucked up on a couple of pieces today but it was still a really good day.
“I started at 10.30 this morning and I’ve just finished and it is 4pm - it’s been a really long day for me.
“The whole team has been amazing this week. I really couldn’t have better teammates than Jay and Nile. Winning the team medal was definitely the highlight of my week."
Speaking after the parallel bars Wilson said: “I had a good day today apart from a mistake on my last piece, the parallel bars. It put me out of the medals and if I had done it properly I would have been at the top.
“I had a fall yesterday on the pommel, so it was good to go out there and really go for it and win the gold. It was amazing to the win the rings as well.
“I have loved all of it this week. Being flag bearer for Team GB on Sunday was unbelievable, and winning the team event on Tuesday was amazing. The whole week has just been great.”
Jay Thompson (Torbay) competed in the floor final and unfortunately a mistake on his first tumble saw him finish in 8th place.
In the girls competition Ellie Downie (Nottingham) had an early birthday present winning a fantastic gold medal in the vault scoring 14.475. Teammate and women’s artistic gymnastic (WAG) all-around bronze medallist Tyesha Mattis (Tottenham) also added to her own collection claiming the bronze medal with a score of 14.300.
The final apparatus final for Downie and Mattis was the uneven bars. Mattis and Downie placed 5th and 7th respectively.
Downie said: “It felt really good to win gold today. I was disappointed to finish fourth yesterday in the all-around final, so to come back and win today was great.
“I qualified in first for vault and that gave me confidence going into today’s competition. Winning gold today is definitely my highlight of the EYOF.”
Amy Tinkler (Bishop Auckland) was last gymnast in action today when she competed in the WAG floor final. Tinkler placed 5th scoring 13.250.
Speaking after her final she said: “I am really happy with how my floor routine went today. I tried my best and that’s all I could ask for.
“Winning the team silver medal on Wednesday was really special and my highlight of the week. Especially because we were the first GB female gymnasts to medal in the team event at an EYOF.”
Over at the Swimming Pool de Krommen it was also raining medals for the Team GB. In the final swimming session of the EYOF 2013 Team GB won one gold, three silver and two bronze medals.
Thirteen year-old Holly Hibbott (Southport) will return to UK with three medals after she won a further silver and bronze in the 200m freestyle and 200 backstroke respectively.
Duncan Scott (Alloa) returns home with four medals after he completed his medal set winning gold in the 200 IM final. Charlie Attwood (Bridgewater) who won the gold in the 100m breaststroke earlier this week, followed up with a bronze medal in the 200m breaststroke.
Wix swimmer Laura Stephens saved her best performance until last securing a silver medal in the 100m butterfly. Before returning to the pool to secure her second silver medal of the night competing alongside with Beth Newton (Bridgwater), Abbie Wood (Buxton) Hannah Featherstone (Bilingham) and Darcy Deakin (Sheffield) in the 4x100m relay.
Attwood teamed up with Martyn Walton (Stevenage), Luke Gunning (Orpington), Suleman Butt (Aberdeen) in the boy’s 4x100m medley relay but unfortunately they could not match the success the girls had and finished just outside of the medals in fourth place.
At the Jaarbeurs Utrecht centre, the venue for the judo competition, John Jayne (London) secured bronze in the -90kg category, Team GB's second judo medal of the week.
Londoner Jayne had a bye in the first round and faced the Georgian Giorgi Gvelesiani in his second round fight, which he won by a single wazari. In his quarter-final against Italian Davide Pozzi, with just one second on the clock, Jayne scored a yuko to progress to the semi –finals.
In his semi-final match sixteen year-old he lost by two shidos putting him into the bronze medal match. However, a disappointed Jayne bounced back and in the bronze medal match he pinned down his Portuguese opponent Pedro Silva for an ippon.
"It feels great," he said. "I was not performing well in my first three fights but I spoke to my coaches and I'm so happy to have got a medal and turned it round in the end.
"This has been a great week for me and I hope it has helped prepare me for the real Olympics in the future."
Also in action for Team GB was +70g Michelle Boyle (Carluke), and +90kg Valentino Volante (Edinburgh).
Seventeen year-old Boyle made light work of her first round opponent from Hungary winning by two wazari. Boyle then faced the European Cadet silver medallist, Kamila Pasternak from Poland, in her quarter-final match. Boyle lost the match by two shido and entered the repechage to face Bulgarian Teodora Eneva. Unfortunately, Boyle lost the match by a yuko and placed 7th.
Scotland’s Volante lost his first round fight losing by ippon to Kadir Bingol from Turkey.
“It’s not the result I wanted, said Volante.
“I started off quite well, but after losing the first score I had to open myself up a bit. There was quite a big weight difference between us.”
“There are positives to take from today but I am pretty disappointed. Next year I move up an age band, which means that I will be fighting -100kg, which is my proper weight band so I will be looking forward to fighting in that.”
GOLD
SILVER
BRONZE